Chaos Midnight
by Niko Kurosaka
Summary: Niko and Sapphire are about to get married, but the wedding is crashed by Xehanort, who had spent the last 3,000 or so years frozen. Xehanort is plotting once again to take the hearts of light and open Kingdom Hearts once more. Will he succeed or will Niko and Sapphire be able to stop him? Thanks to Create For Monty who paired with me on this! I hope you enjoy it as much as we did!
1. The keyblades of Mobius

Niko stood at the altar, waiting for Sapphire to arrive. The day had finally come that he would marry the one he loved the most. Sapphire stood back away from the aisle. Since she had no living male relatives, Garnet had agreed to walk her down the aisle. He smiled at Sapphire.

"You look beautiful," he told her. "I don't want to give you away." Sapphire smiled and laughed, but his face grew serious. "If he ever breaks your heart, let me know, and I'll take care of him." Sapphire only laughed more.

"He wouldn't," she replied softly, "but I know you would."

Their was a cue in the music, and they knew it was time to walk down the aisle. Garnet took Sapphire's arm and they slowly emerged, Garnet in his suit and Sapphire in the dress she'd picked out only a few days prior. Their footsteps down the aisle were slow and calculated, and when they reached the alter, Garnet gave Sapphire away to Niko before sitting down.

Niko saw Sapphire and smiled as he saw Garnet bringing her to him. He looked at Knuckles who was standing next to him and smiled as Sapphire stood in front of him. Nicole appeared in front of them and smiled.

"Godddess aurora." Nicole said. "Before you we have two souls who are coning together in matrimony. Now, because a lot of you are seriously in need of getting to whatever it is you were going to do today, I'll make this quick on all of us. Now it is time for the bride and groom to present their vows."

Niko looked at Sapphire as he took a deep breath.

"Sapphire you are my life multiplied by a million." Niko said smiling. "You are more to me than life it'self and I will go through everything that I have to, sacrifice all that make me whole, to make you smile. I love you and I am so glad you have decided to marry me."

Sapphire had vowed a long time ago to never cry again. But as Niko spoke to her, she felt tears well up behind her eyes, and she felt them slowly fall down her cheeks as she smiled. This was happening. She as marrying the love of her life. She wiped at her tears before starting her own vows, which were similar but different than his.

"Niko... I firmly believe that you deserve so much better than me, but I'm so thankful that you chose me. I love you so dearly, and I don't know what I'd do if something were to happen to you. You're my life, my world, the only thing I need to live. If I have you, I have everything I'd ever need."

"As we all know that you want this, so you may now..." was all Nicole could say before a voice could be heard.

"Kiss?" The mysterious figure asked. "That I'd love to see. Excuse me, where are my manners? My name is Xehanort and thanks to Herato's death, I have risen once more. I came not to fight, but to inform the married couple of their time limit. You see, there are seven princesses I wish to acquire for my...personal ends. They're scattered across separate worlds and I have easy access to them. I'm informing you because you have no way of getting to them before me. But a...as the kids say, a heads up was in order. Enjoy the wedding."

With that, Xehanort bowed and disappeared. Everyone attending was in shock, mouths wide open. Nicole was the first to say a word after a while.

"As we were saying," Nicole continued. "You may now kiss the bride."

Nicole's very relaxed manner was practically unheard of. The "bride" was too busy mulling over what she had just heard to be kissed. Sapphire felt anger flow through her, and she remembered the letter she and Niko had received a few days prior. If she had acted on her gut instinct and pursued this evil... If she had gotten a head start... She should have known her happiness would have been in vain, that things would go wrong.

"Niko," she said very urgently, voice suddenly determined and cold. It was the usual way she talked, not the happiness filled voice from before. "We have to find those princesses."

 _Oh come on!_ Niko thought as he sighed. He wished Xehanort had shown up later. This wasn't a friendly drop in, it was a c***-block. Niko had planned everything and now it went completely to waste. Niko looked at Sapphire sadly. He knew what was at stake if they didn't leave now, but as he looked at all the guests and then to Nicole, Niko knew that his happiness with Sapphire was only gonna last for so long. Looking at the ring on his finger, he knew the bond he made with Sapphire, an unbreakable connection.

Knowing that his happiness would be put on hold until Xehanort was stopped, he looked at Sapphire once more.

"Yeah." Niko said looking to the audience. "Please go ahead and enjoy the reception guys. Sapphire and I have to save the world again."

Sapphire groaned and cursed. "We just can't catch a break, can we?" she muttered to Niko. "I need to change, and so do you. I'll meet you outside?" She kissed Niko quickly and softly before hurrying out, holding her dress in fists so she could run freely to leave quicker. She looked down at her ring. At least they were married, right?

Niko walked into the bathroom and changed into a black muscle shirt with a blue coat and blue pants. As he tied his shoes he felt an odd darkness nearby. He ran towards the source and saw odd creatures roaming around.

"What the?" Niko said. "What are those things?"

Sapphire changed into not her usual outfit, since she didn't have it with her, but black jeans and a sapphire blue tank top with combat boots. She ran outside and up behind Niko as he asked his question.

"Beats me," Sapphire muttered, pulling the gun out of the holster that she'd even worn under her wedding dress.

The monsters notice the pair and rushed them. Niko stood in front of Sapphire as a silver and red key shaped sword with golden trimmings appeared in his hands. He stood awestruck at what was in his hands, but quickly snapped out of it and rushed in at the enemies.

Sapphire's eyes widened as a key appeared in Niko's hand. They were just supposed to get married and be happy, but of course the weird shit had to happen. Sighing and shaking her head, she raised her gun and started to unload round after round into her opponents.

As they fought and more of the creatures appeared, eventually Niko began to get tired. As he fell to the ground the monsters took the opportunity to strike. Suddenly a talk man with whitish blue hair came and ripped through them like butter. Niko looked towards the man and passed out. Picking Niko up, the man turned his gaze to Sapphire.

"Xehanort was here, right?" He asked. "My name is Riku. Come with me."

"Why should we?!" Sarabi asked"

"I can help you get to the princesses." Riku replied opening a portal. "Come on."

With irritation, Sapphire realized she'd have to follow this Riku man. She had no other lead as to where the princesses were, and they were becoming overwhelmed by these creatures. Sighing, Sapphire hurried into the portal.

Riku looked to Sapphire and sighs.

"I can tell you're confused." Riku said.

"Of course I'm confused!" Sapphire exclaimed once they were to safety. "Some asshole crashed my wedding? Did you hear me? My wedding! And then those things showed up, and... And..." Sapphire groaned and shook her head.

"Where are we, anyways? Who was that guy? Will Niko be ok?"

"His name is Xehanort." Riku replied. "We're in the one place he can't touch, Disney Castle. Niko is going to be fine, he's just tired out. He'll be be okay. I'm sorry about your wedding, I'm sure it was beautiful."

"Sapphire?" Niko said. "You're okay. I'm glad."

Niko looked around at where he is and smiled.

"This is from my dream." Niko said. "I dreamt of this place. That means. You must be Riku?"

"That's right." Riku replied.

Sapphire shook her head. "No, that can't be possible. That was a dream, and... And..." She sighed and ran a hand through her hair. "This is crazy. Insane."

She looked to Riku, not wanting to believe he was real. "You said you knew about the princesses."

"Yes. My friend is one of them." Riku replied.

"I just need to know how to save them," Sapphire said shortly. "We can't twiddle our thumbs and waste time if they're in danger."

"I know that." Riku said. There's someone who needs to go with you, however."

A small cricket appears on Niko's shoulder and hops on Sapphire's shoulder.

"This is Jiminy Cricket." Riku said. "He's here to take note of your experiences. You'll have a great journey ahead of you. I can't ecatly tell you two exactly where the princesses are and I can only tell you by taking chances and having a strong heart, you'll find them."

"So how are we getting to each world?" Niko asked.

"The gummi ship." Riku replied as he pointed towards a ship that looked like a Lego spaceship. "It runs on smiles though...so no frowning or it won't go anywhere."

This was literally Sapphire's worst nightmare.

Sapphire looked to Niko. "Is this real? Like, is there a cricket on my shoulder, and were we just at our wedding? Because this certainly doesn't feel real. And it doesn't make sense. And..." She groaned again.

"Who cares?" Niko asked. "This is so cool!"

"And you doubted him!" Saph said to Sarabi. "Shame of you."

"Oh shut up!" Sarabi said sighing.

"If you two want to save the princesses you might wanna suspend your belief for a moment and save them." Riku said.

"Right!" Niko said. "Come on, sapphire!"

Niko grabbed Sapphire's hand and runs off to the gummi ship.

"Whoa!" Jiminy exclaimed hanging onto Sapphire's shoulder for dear life. "Slow down!"

"Yeah, what the talking cricket said!" Sapphire added, yanking her hand out of Niko's and running on her own. This was literally insane, and she didn't like one bit of it. She groaned inwardly.


	2. Dreams

"Sorry..." Niko said, walking into the Gummi Ship cockpit. "I guess I'm just ready to ghet this journey started. After all of this, I hope we can relax though."

"Well at least lemme get your names?" Jiminy asked.

"I'm Niko." Niko replied.

Sapphire was a lot less eager than Niko. She followed him into the cockpit and sat in the copilot's seat. She did a lot of swearing and mumbling under her breath, before stopping abruptly to give her name.

"Sapphire," she grumbled.

"It's nice to meet you both." Jiminy said happily. "Well let's get going shall we?"

"Yeah!" Niko said as he started the Gummi Ship and took off. "WHere should we head to first, Jiminy?"

"Well let's head to Castle of Dreams first." Jiminy said. "Should be a simple enough place to start. We should check on Cinderella first."

Sapphire mumbled something under her breath about castles and dreams. The only real audible part of it was her string of curse words. She put her feet up on the dash and folded her arms in a disgruntled way.

'I'll go to this castle,' she thought, 'but I won't like it.'

"Good to see that you are at least complying." Niko said. "Let's go!"

Niko landed in the glen near the castle and he sees Cinderella sitting there with the prince. Niko smiled at this sight and it reminded him of him and Sapphire. Suddenly monsters show up and jumps at them. Niko rushes in and slashes them..

"Both of you run!" Niko said. "Find somewhere safe!"

They both nod and run. Niko knew that sapphire would rather fight than believe any of this happening so he looked to her and hoped she was starting to believe what she was seeing.

Sapphire hurried to the spot where the prince and princess had been sitting. "Hold on, Jiminy," she muttered as she ran, pulling her gun. She stepped in front of the monsters, firing round after round at the monsters that emerged, ignoring Niko. If there was something to fight, she'd fight regardless.

Niko looked at the monsters and sighed. He knew that they'd eventually back off once their numbers dwindled. He slashed at a few and as one attacked Sapphire from behind, Niko pointed his Keyblade at it and a blast of fire hit the monster knocking it away and disintegrating it as it flew. Niko looked around and saw that the had destroyed the rest of them and sighed dispelling his Keyblade.

"This keyblade is gonna take some time to get used to." Niko said putting his hands behind his head and looking around.

"You know, Niko." Jiminy said. "You remind me of Sora."

"Who's Sora?" Niko asked.

"Sora is one of the legendary Keyblades of Light. He was the one who destroyed Xehanort to begin with. It befuddles me how he escaped."

"Jiminy do you know what those things aere?" Niko asked.

"Those are the Heartless." Jiminy replied. "Creagures made from the darkness in people's hearts. And I don't want to be rude, Miss Sapphire, but they seem to be attracted more to you than Niko. I can just tell she's full of darkness."

"Maybe." Niko said. "But that's what I love about her. She was such a buzzkill at first, but she opened up in time. Her heart is full of darkness because of her past. But I want to give her...well...us a future with happiness at the center. If that means we have to take down Xehanort again, we will!"

Jiminy smiled at this and nodded. It wasn't everyday someone who had the same demeanor as Sora ever came about. He was thankful someone was taking this all with a light manner. He looked to Sapphire and sighed. He could tell growing up was rough, and being on her shoulder made her question reality. Niko looked to Sapphire and sighed.

"So?" Niko said taking her hand. "Do you still think this is all a dream of some sort?"

Sapphire was at first a little taken aback by Niko calling her a buzzkill, but she didn't get the opportunity to say anything. She just kind of folded her arms and made a face. He'd be sleeping on the couch when they got back home. She also wasn't sure how she felt about being told her heart was "full of darkness," even though she knew it was true.

Sapphire holstered her gun and sighed, rubbing her temples. "I'd like to think it is," she told Niko. "This is all so bizarre. More bizarre than anything of my father's plans. Not to mention how abruptly it happened, and, you know, WHEN it happened..."

"I know." Niko said. "This is strange, but we can't let how unreal this all is keep us from stopping Xehanort. Are you willing to suspend your disbelief?"

Sapphire sighed and folded her arms tightly, looking down and to the right. "No, I'm not," she replied indignantly. "But it won't keep me from stopping this asshole. If someone's in danger, real or not, you know I'll try to make sure they're safe." Her voice sounded as if she had given in to something.

"Works for me." Niko said as r wakes towards the castle. "I can sense that they went that way."

Biting her lip gently, Sapphire let out a small breath and followed Niko. Normally she was the one focused on the mission and really ignoring much else, but Niko seemed to be the one doing that this time around. Was this how he constantly felt when they'd done things together? It felt awful.

As they walked Niko saw a mouse running towards them. Niko picked him up and put him on his shoulder.

"Whoa there little guy!" Niko said.

"Me not little guy!" The mouse replied. "My name Jacque! Have to find help! Cinderelly in big big trouble! Roosifee grow many many big!"

"Cinderella is in danger..." Saph said. "Lucifer grow huge."

"Zug zug! Cat lady correct" Jacque said looking to Saph.

"We can help!" Niko said. "Which way?"

"Cinderelly in castle!" Jacque replied.

"Come on!" Niko said putting the little mouse in his pocket. "Cinderella needs us!"

Niko ran off towards the castle.

"What the fuck is going on?" Sapphire whispered harshly to herself. Small talking mice? What? She groaned, shook her head, and hurried after Niko.

Niko ran into the castle and saw a giant cat. Jacque hid deeper into Niko's pocket and Niko summoned his Keyblade.

"Now that's a giant pussy." Niko said. "Ready to put it down?"

"Why the hell not?" Sapphire asked in a mutter under her breath, pulling her gun out. She reloaded quickly and looked to Niko. "On your go."

"Wait for it." Niko replied. "Wait for it!"

As Lucifer approached, Niko smiled and rushed at it. Niko jumped on its back and punched its neck a few times and jumps into the and it falls towards the ground. However, Lucifer is a lot more limber than he looks and he quickly regains his balance and quickly turns and grabs Niko tossing him away. Niko hit the wall and slid down the wall. A small glow appears in Sapphire's hands and a white and Sapphire blue Keyblade appeared in her hands.

Sapphire swore loudly and jumped black as a blade akin to Niko's appeared in her hand. Narrowing her eyes, she looked at it, then at the cat, then back at it. Swearing again, softer this time, she holstered her gun and charged at Lucifer. Her limited amount of melee weapon training would have to do.

She rushed at the cat, and, when in proximity, she swiped at it sharply before withdrawing to avoid a defensive attack from her new adversary.

"Well I'll be." Jiminy said in awe. "You have a Keyblade too Sapphire! I'm on a journey with two Keyblade wielders!"

Hopping back into Sapphire's pocket, Jiminy began jotting down everything so far.

Lucifer got up and looked at Sapphire and hissed. As it was about to strike its eyes went cross and it fell to the ground. Niko stood over it and sighed. Suddenly, Lucifer got up and started running away.

"Yeah you better run ya pussy!" Niko shouted. Suddenly Cinderella ran up to him and Sapphire and smiled, the Prince not far behind her.

"Thank you both ever so much." Cinderella said as Jacque appeared out of Niko's pocket. "And thank you too Jacque."

"How did that cat get so... Big?" Sapphire asked, shaking her head. "And... Where did I get this... Thing?" She shook the Keyblade and looked at it with a confused, wild look?

"I suppose we'll never know." Jiminy said

Suddenly a key-shaped hole appears in the air and Niko and Sapphire's Keyblades glow.

"The keyhole!" Jiminy exclaimed. "Quick! Point your Keyblade at it to seal the world from Xehanort's control!"

"Okay!" Niko replied.

Niko pointed his Keyblade at the keyhole and a burst of light emits from it. Niko looked to Sapphire as if to say "hurry up."

Sapphire scoffed at Niko's look. He was enjoying this experience all too much. She raised her Keyblade and pointed it at the keyhole, her free hand resting in an annoyed fashion on her hip.

Though very irritated by the experience so far, everything seemed very... Connected, and in place.

A large ker-chunk was heard and the keyhole disappears. Suddenly the duo was enveloped in light and brought back to the Gummi Ship, where Niko saw new worlds to explore. Niko saw one in particular he liked and looked to Sapphire.

"I know you're probably still in denial that any of this is remotely real," Niko said. "But I want you to know that I won't force you to believe any of this. When Xehanort is gone you can play this off as a bad dream, but for now, please just try to at least open your mind a bit?"

"Looks like the two of you have Keyblades," Jiminy said smiling. "Which means Heartless are gonna be after ya in full force. Now the next world is gonna get weird. We're going to the Pride Lands."

Sapphire narrowed her eyes and Niko, sitting down in her seat and folding her arms again. She had opened her mouth to respond to Niko, but then she looked at Jiminy with wild eyes.

"NOW it's going to get weird?" she asked, exasperated. She put her face in her hands. "I should have just stayed with the Insurgents..." Her voice sounded almost hysterical.


	3. Pride

"Sorry to spring this on you." Jiminy said. "Upon entering the world, we need to check on a lion named Simba. He's nice. He's also a formidable opponent in battle."

"Okay, I can deal with lions," Sapphire said after a deep breath. "Lions aren't a problem. I know I lion. This is fine." She was clearly trying to psyche herself down.

"If you feel confident." Niko said

"As confident as I'll ever be," Sapphire muttered, glaring slightly at Niko. She loved him, gosh, she loved him, but he could be an absolute pain sometimes. But, so could she. Niko steered towards the Pride Lands and the Gummi Ship disappeared sending them careening to the ground. Sapphire stood up prematurely, holding onto the chair she had been sitting in for balance. She felt for the Keyblade that rested comfortably on her back as if to make herself feel better before preparing to step out of the ship. Niko looked around and saw bones of elephants. Niko shuddered and looked to Jiminy who landed in his hood..

"This must be the Elephant Graveyard." Jiminy observed. "Never ceases to scare me a little."

"Yeah." Saph said. "It gives me the heebie jeebies."

"You two are a bunch of wimps." Sarabi said, internally she was being cautious and she was weirded out by all the bones.

"Whoa take a look at us!" Niko said admiring the fact he was a cheetah and Sapphire was a lioness. "We look pretty nice! But this place is kinda creepy, though."

"Hey look!" Jiminy exclaimed. "That looks like trouble is at work."

"Yeah." Sarabi said. "Niko! Sapphire! We better go check it out."

Niko looked and saw a fire in the distance. Looking towards Sapphire, he ran towards the fire, unaware he was running on all fours. Sapphire took off shortly after Niko, in a similar position to him on all fours. The fire was alarming and it made her anxiety raise up. What was going on? Niko sees an unconscious lioness surrounded by Heartless. Rushing into the miiddle, Niko looked to her.

"Sapphire! Get those Heartless destroyed!" Niko roared.

Before Niko had finished his sentence, Sapphire had her Keyblade in hand and was destroying the Heartless, eyes dark, determined, and focused. She slashed and moved strategically, eliminating the creatures efficiently. Niko looked to Sapphire and was shocked by how quick she got rid of them. _Wow. She's actually pretty hot when she is taking down foes with a Keyblade._ Niko thought as he nodded/

"Right." Niko said. "We need to get her away from the flames."

Dark blue Psi energy fizzles around Sapphire's hands. "You move her, and I'll douse what I can of the flames," she told Niko as droplets of waters began to cover her hands. Suddenly, splashes of water began to appear around the fire, bringing them down to size.

Suddenly a lion with brown fur and a pitch black mane appears and destroys a few Heartless. Seeing Niko with the lioness, he approached them both.

"Who are you?" The lion asked.

"I'm Niko." Niko replied. "This is Sapphire. We saw the fire and came to help. Can you help us get her out of here?"

"That's Kiara, Simba's daughter!" Jiminy shouted. "That means you must be Kovu!"

"J-Jiminy?" Kiara said groggily. "Is that you?"

"We can catch up later!" Niko said summoning his Keyblade. "Blizzard!"

Almost all at once, the fire starts to turn into smoke.

"Kiara? Kovu?" Sapphire asked, alert. Jiminy had mentioned Simba, but who were these other people that were mentioned? She looked alarmed as she tightly gripped her Keyblade.

"Kiara is Simba's daughter." Jiminy said. "I don't really know much about Kovu."

"Like I said we can catch up and introduce ourselves properly later." Niko said. "Let's get Kiara out of here."

A roar is heard and a blonde lion with a red mane runs to the group.

"That's Simba." Jiminy said.

"I got that much, thanks," Sapphire replied, taking a step back from the lions. She felt like she was intruding on something. She carefully put her Keyblade back onto her back, eyes wary and watchful of her surroundings.

"Jiminy?" Simba asked. "What are you doing here? Who are these two?"

"This is Niko and Sapphire." Jiminy replied. "They're friends of mine."

Niko explained to explained the whole situation to Simba. Simba listened to the tale, his eyes shifting to Kovu now and then. Niko finished his story and Simba nodded and sits down.

"I have to admit." Simba began. "I'm thankful for the help you and Sapphire and Kovu helped my daughter."

Sapphire nodded her head in reply to the thanks. "We couldn't just let her remain in harm's way," she replied confidently with a set look on her face. Simba smiled as Jiminy explained that the heartless weren't really responsible for the fire. Simba thought about this for a moment and nodded. Blinking and narrowing her eyes, Sapphire looked to Jiminy.

"What DID end up starting the fire?" she asked, eyes swaying back and forth between the people around her, hoping for an answer.

"I think I can explain." Kovu piped up. "My mother, Zira might be to blame."

"Then what are we standing around for?" Niko asked. "Let's go get-huh?"

Niko and Sapphire felt an odd pulse of energy that caused them to disappear into a wasteland-esque desert. In front of them is a boy in a black and red coat and black jeans. Pointing his Keyblade at them, he smiled.

"You two must be the ones Lord Xehanort was referring to." The figure said turning to face them. "You've become a pain in the a** to us."

"Who are you?" Niko asked summoning his Keyblade.

"My name is Vanitas." He replied. "But my name won't matter to you when you're dead."

Sapphire rolled her eyes and pulled her Keyblade from her back, readying up. "Fuck off," she muttered with a snarl, cracking her neck. More nuisances to deal with that were delaying her from getting back to reality. And they were a pain in HIS ass. Pfft, whatever.


	4. Sora

"Yeah right!" Niko said summoning his Keyblade. "Xehanort should've been dead! If he wants to send his chore boy to face us, fine! If you want fight Vanitas, bring it!"

Niko ran towards Vanitas and a clash between the two began and Niko was flung back. Before hitting the ground Vanitas rushed above him and attempted to hit him. Before he could a burst of light blinded Vanitas and a spiky haired young man counted Vanitas's attack sending him backwards. Vanitas looked towards the man with a face of shock.

"No! You're not supposed to be here!" Vanitas said in panic.

"SORA!" Jiminy shouted in elation.

"Riku explained everything to me." Sora said. "I'm just glad I got here when I did. Vanitas is formidable. But we can take him if we work together!"

"Right." Niko said nodding. He looked to Sapphire and Sarabi. Sarabi looked to Sora and tilted her head in a sort of way that said she was thinking about whether or not to him. Sora looked to the spot Sarabi is standing and walke up to her.

"I can tell a lot of people can't see you." Sora said. "But I can. Xehanort can't see you, I guess it takes a heart of light to see you."

Sarabi looked away inwardly blushing. Ever since the start of this journey no one but Sapphire and Niko could see or hear her. It was awkward to know someone else could see her. Sarabi nodded and looked away.

"Niko and Sapphire were almsot goners until you came!" Jiminy said. "We need to take out Vanitas!"

"HA! In your dreams!" Vanitas shouted. "You got lucky! Now it's my turn to do what I should've done a long time ago!"

Jumping into the air, Vanitas let loose a barrage of lightning made of darkness at Sora. Niko rushed to the lightning and a shield appears on him sending the bolts back at Vanitas. Sora looked to Niko and nodded. Vanitas at this poit had enough of the b*** that was happening so he summoned a giant Heartless.

"I will deal with you later!" Vanitas said before leaving. The Heartless roared and the area went dark. When visibility was returned, the trio found themselves in a dark mansion with a giant. beast-like Heartless with red and black and purple markings and horns. Niko backed up a bit, scared of what he was looking at.

"It's the Dark Thorn Heartless!" Jiminy and Sora said in unison.

"That's not good!" Saph said.

"Who cares?!" Sarabi said. "We gotta take that thing out! Niko stop being a pansy a** and help us!"

Niko quickly gained his composure and walked back to the others and sighed summoning his Keyblade."

The arrival of the one called Sora was only confusing to Sapphire. Jiminy had mentioned him once, but outside of that, she knew nothing of him or why he seemed to be so special. She narrowed her eyes at the exchange he had had with Sarabi, rolling her eyes. It was no time for pleasantries.

The large Heartless was daunting, but not enough to intimidate Sapphire. She had fought larger things in her lifetime, things that gave her an actual challenge. With the three of them, she felt as if it would be an easy fight.

Gritting her teeth, she rushed at the Heartless, Keyblade gripped tightly in her hands. She leaped up once close enough, swinging her Keyblade at the head of the Heartless, moving so quickly that the Keyblade was a white after imagine. She landed a put a hand on the floor, sliding backwards from her momentum. Not wanting look afraid, Niko rushed at the Heartless and jumped up at it laughing fireballs at it.

"Let me get a few hits in!" Sora said laughing and runs towards the heartless and slashed at it knocking it onto its knees. "Niko! Sapphire! Finish it!"

"Okay!" Niko said. "Let's go Sapphire!"

Niko stood still for a sec as his Keyblade is enveloped in flames. Without warning, Niko was gone in a flash and then reappeared behind the Heartless. It looked as if Niko didn't hit it, until a giant spot in its chest opened it.

"Hit the spot!" Niko called to Sapphire. "That's its weaknesses!"

Sapphire didn't need to be told twice. She shut her eyes, and when she opened them again, they were pitch black. She gritted her teeth and charged at the Heartless before leaping once more and swinging her Keyblade at its weak spot, gritting her teeth as she fell to the ground after the attack was delivered.

The Heartless roars and falls to the ground. It explodes in a burst of light. Niko smiled as the world around them returned to normal. Sora looked at Niko and Sapphire and smiled.

"Good job you two." Sora said. "The Gummi Ship will be here to pick you guys up. I was told to give you guys a hand. Good luck!"

Sora disappears into a flash of light. Sapphire let out a sigh, putting her Keyblade on her back. She let a moment of silence pass before looking to Jiminy.

"Who exactly is Sora?" she asked, tilting her head to the side.

Jiminy looked to Sapphire and smiled

"Sora is a good friend and a fierce warrior" Jiminy said. "He's also very nice and kind."

"So it seems," Sapphire replied, giving Sarabi a sideways glance. "Well, the Heartless is taken care of. What now?"

"I guess we just wait for the Gummi Ship to show up." Niko said, sitting down. He wished the Gummi Ship had came with them. He liked to be patient but not in a place like this. It seemed so calm in an eerie kind of way.

Slowly, Sapphire nodded. "Right."

She ran her fingertips along her face. She wanted this to be over. She wanted it to be the end of it. She'd only gotten a week of peace when she had expected a year. It was wistful thinking, she now realized. She sighed and rubbed her eyes, feeling a slight fatigue.

The Gummi Ship flew in above them and brought Niko and Sapphire on board. Upon getting to the cockpit they see a duck in mage regalia and a dog in Knight's armor sitting there. The duck looked to them, obviously not happy.

"I don't remember giving Riku permission to loan MY Gummi Ship out to strangers!" He shouted.

"That's because they don't have Keyblade Gliders Donald." The dog said. "Plus Riku and the king said they'd take the blame if something happened to it."

"Whatever." Donald replied. "I'm flying from here out!"

"Wait!" Niko said. "What are you guys?!"

"I'm Goofy!" The dog replied. "The grumpy one is Donald. I'm the Disney Castle Royal Captain of the Guard. Donald is the Court Wizard."

Jiminy looked to them and chuckles a little. He didn't know Riku never asked to loan the Gummi Ship out. Well they needed to get around somehow. Sapphire had opened her mouth to say something, but she just groaned, through her hands in the air in an exasperated manner, and went to sit down, hands going to her eyes again. She just wanted the madness to be over. Niko sat next to Sapphire and sighed.

"I know what you're thinking." Niko said. "You want all this to end. It's a shame it's not that simple. It could go by a bit faster if you just tried to suspend your disbelief. I know it's hard to do it, but if I can, I know you can too. You've so many things better than I did. I remember the volcano you made for history to show how Pompeii went down. All I did was write a song about the Gods of Olympus. My point is, you've done so much, anchored in reality. If we're gonna beat Xehanort, you're gonna have to temporarily let go of reality. Nothing happening right now would happen normally."

She bit her lip, harder than she had intended to. Sapphire sighed and rested her elbows on her knees and her head in her hands. Did he realize what he was asking of her?

"I don't know if I can do that," she replied softly, looking up at Niko before shaking her head and looking down again. She ran a hand through her hair anxiously. "I... I don't know if I can do this, at all." She gestured around them weakly. "I can fight, sure, and I can kill things, but I can't just... Dismiss reality and realism. I'll hold you back because of it."

"If you say so." Niko said. "So Donald? Where are we off to next?"

"We need to take you two to Cloud." Donald replied. "He wants see you two."

"Gawrsh." Goofy said. "Why would Cloud wanna see them? Something important must be happening."

"Hmmm." Jiminy said thinking hard. "This doesn't seem like a casual meet-up. Nothing about Cloud is casual. He always seems to be brooding about something."

"Like Sapphire when I first met her." Niko said chuckling. He then recieved a hefty slap to his head. "OUCH!"

"You deserved that!" Sarabi shouted. "Baka!"

"Yeah you're right about that." Niko replied rubbing his head. "So where we're going got a name?"

"Yup!" Goofy said. "The radiant garden."


	5. Cloud

Sapphire tilted her head to the side and wrinkled her nose at the sound of someone named "Cloud." Another unfamiliar face?.. Well, if it was necessary. She glared at Niko for his little comment. Upon arrival at their destination, Niko looked around at the surroundings. He was taken by surprise by how beautiful it was.

"Let's go!" Donald shouted.

Niko nodded and followed Donald to a house. Suddenly he heard a girl call out.

"Hey!" She called. "Are you looking for Cloud?!"

"Yup!" Goofy replied. "Do ya know where he is Yuffie?"

"He's inside the house behind you!" Yuffie replied jumping down from her perch. "You two must be the ones Riku and Cloud want to see. I'm Yuffie!"

"I'm Niko." Niko replied. "This is Sapphire."

Sapphire inclined her head politely ever so slightly in the direction of the girl called Yuffie. "A pleasure," she said softly, eyes wandering to the house behind them. The door opens and a tall man with blonde spiky hair walks out. He wore a black coat with a sleeve missing and a lion sigil on the chest. Looking towards Niko and Sapphire, he sighed and walked to them.

"Good to see you two made it." Cloud said. "My name is Cloud. Riku said that you two are making good progress stopping Xehanort. He said not worry about Simba and the others, he sealed the world when you two vanished. As far as this world is concerned, you're here because I asked Riku to allow me to gauge your skill. No magic, just your swordfighting skill."

With suspicion in her eyes, Sapphire turned her head slightly to look at Niko to gauge his reaction before turning her head back to cloud. She narrowed her eyes ever so slightly.

"So, I suppose you're good with a sword?" she asked, tilting her head upwards slightly.

Cloud draws his signature Buster Blade as quick as lightning.

"This answer your question?" Cloud asked.

Sapphire tilted her head to the side and rolled her eyes ever so slightly, looking unimpressed. "Yeah. Sure," she replied loftily, eyeing up his large weapon. It was impressive, and had a nice shape. Looked like something her father would've made, or would've bought, so her respect for the large sword grew for that reason only.

"Good." Cloud said. "Then let's get started shall we?"

Cloud rushed at Sapphire. Before he could get a stroke in, Niko stepped in front of her and blocked the attack. Quickly counter it, Niko smiled.

"You're pretty fast." Niko said.

"Thanks." Cloud said, smiling.

Sapphire glared at Niko. She could've taken care of herself. She took out her Keyblade and held it firmly in her right head, rolling her shoulders back. She wasn't great with melee weapons, but she'd have to pull something off.

Seeing as this Cloud was good with his weapon, she decided it'd be wise to stick to the defensive, so she took on a proper stance.

"Starting in the defensive?" Cloud asked. "Interesting."

Cloud rushed at Niko and Niko quickly blocked it and jumped out the way. Cloud them turned his attention to Sapphire and rushed at her, swinging his blade rapidly.

Reacting quickly and relying on her reflexes, Sapphire took some steps backwards and raised her Keyblade, the blad Cloud wielded hitting her own and keeping away from herself. She gritted her teeth as she blocked his attack carefully. He was skillful. Niko watched on as Sapphire skillfully blocked Cloud's attack and smiled at Yuffie who was just grinning as if something good was going to occur. Niko didn't like this and he saw why when Cloud backed away and started to glow a light blue and white. Niko's eyes widened as Cloud charged at Sapphire knocking her skyward and slashed at her relentlessly.

"Oh no!" Yuffie exclaimed. "That is Cloud's signature attack, Omnislash! You have to stop him!"

Niko rushed into the attack and dropkicked Cloud sending him sideways. Niko landed on the ground and caught Sapphire as she fell.

"Sapphire!" Niko shouted.

Wasn't he... Wasn't he just supposed to be testing their skills? Why was he trying to kill her?

New, bloody cuts coated her body. A wide, large gash was on her cheek, oozing blood that dripped down the side of her face. Dozens on other cuts covered her chest, shoulders, and arms. There were now rips and holes in her clothing, two exposing her stomach and dozens ripping up her pants. Under each cut of cloth was another slash. Blood was running quickly, covering her skin and making it hard to tell if she had red skin or not. She was a bloody mess.

The attack took toll in many ways other than scratching up her body. She felt... Weak. Tired. Like she couldn't move. Her Keyblade had fallen from her hand and had skidded some ways away. She gritted her teeth in Niko's arms, looks of pure pain flashing onto her face as she tried to move. Her chest was rising and falling rapidly, seeing as the breath had been knocked out of her, and it appeared to seem like she was just trying to breathe, and to live. After her one unsuccessful attempt at moving, she went very limp in Niko's arms, squeezing her eyes tightly and grinding her teeth together in the pain she was feeling, still breathing quick and heavily.

"Niko?" Sapphire whispered, opening her eyes to look at him. His figure was blurry. Was she dying? She couldn't tell. Her body just felt like fire, like pain. She shut her eyes again, head falling backwards as if it were too hard to keep it up straight. "I'm... I'm sorry..."

Niko put Sapphire down as Donald ran up to heal Sapphire. Niko looked towards Cloud, eyes now yellow. Niko began to glow black and is completely eclipsed in his darknes. He rushed towards Cloud and slashed at him relentlessly and knocked him away. He roared but felt a pulse of energy that made him stop.

"Niko! Stop!" A voice called out. Niko looked to a face. "You have to stop!"

"Mother?" Niko growled.

"Please stop! Sapphire is okay!" Tikal said. "Please stop...I'm begging you."

Niko began to revert back to normal and Cloud walked up to him. He shook his head.

"Niko! You almost lost it!" Donald said.

"I did?" Niko asked.

"You looked like a demon!" Goofy replied.

"Oh." Niko said.

As Sapphire was healed, her breathing was still heavy, and her chest continued to rise and fall rapidly. Her bleeding stopped, but her skin was still covered in the red substance. Her eyes fluttered open and she found most of her cuts gone, though a few remained, including the one on her cheek. She sat up slowly with effort, wincing, look of pain still on her face. She saw Niko just as he went from a demon back to himself. Her eyes were wide.

"Niko?" she called out weekly in between breaths. Her mind was fuzzy and she felt fatigued and weak.

Niko looked to Sapphire and backed away a little. He was afraid of what he had done, but even more afraid of the judgement Sapphire would pass onto him. Cloud wrenches the Keyblade out of his hands and looked to him.

"You really don't need this." Cloud said. "You're dangerous to yourself and to Sapphire. She was harmed because you didn't stop me quick enough. Donald would make a better Keyblade wielder than you! You may have demonic power, but still have no control over when and how you use it. You don't deserve this Keyblade. If you did, Sapphire would only have a few cuts. Instead she was near death."

Niko clenched his fist as the Keyblade leaves Cloud's hand and reappeared back in his own.

"You're the one who used that attach!" Yuffie piped up in Niko's defense. "You didn't have to do that! He wouldn't have snapped if you hadn't done that!"

Sapphire gritted her teeth, trying to stand. Shouldn't she have some sort of say in this? Slowly but surely she climbed to her feet, grabbing her nearby Keyblade and using it to support her weakened body.

"I shouldn't have to rely on Niko to save me like some damsel in distress," she growled, trying to calm her breathing. "Because of that, you can't blame Niko for 'not stopping you quick enough.'" She closed her eyes as she breathed, and when she opened them, There was an angry fire in her eyes.

"Yuffie's right, anyways. You don't test someone's abilities by trying to kill one and provoking the other."


	6. Wild Ride

Niko looked down sadly. He was only trying to help and he only made things worse. Knowing that and Sapphire were right, he sighed. Cloud, however, was feeling no amount of sympathy as he just huffed and turned to leave. Niko knows it was best if he just left. Yuffie looked to Sapphire and finished helping Donald heal her. Niko walked away and sat on a rooftop. A voice from behind him chuckled.

"Mine if I sit here?" There voice asked. Niko nodded and the figure sat down. "What's on your mind?"

"I'm a monster." Niko said. "My wife almost gets killed by Cloud and I...well I lose my marbles and almost kill him in respons. He tells me i shouldn't have the Keyblade, but what if I was meant to have it? What if...I was allowed to have it because of my strength, not my fault? I wish I knew."

"A friend of mine asked me the same thing." The figure said. "He wanted to know too. I never knew the answer and I don't think he ever got the answer he needed either."

Sapphire inclined her head toward Yuffie and Donald as thanks, feeling her energy return to her and her breathing go back to normal. Her clothing was still pretty messed up, though, and that one slash across her cheek remained.

She frowned as both Niko and Cloud took off. She put her Keyblade on her back and hurried after her husband. Husband... It was weird thinking that. It didn't feel like they were married, especially since the wedding had been crashed.

"Niko, wait!" she had called out after he had taken off. But, after following the path she had assumed he had gone, she could not find him. She sighed and rubbed her eyes with her fingers.

"is that her?" The figure asked. "She's looking for you."

"I know." Niko said. "I'm not ready to face her just yet."

"You've gotta talk to her." The figure replied."it's better now than later."

Niko nodded and stood up. Turning to the figure he bowed.

"Thank you sir." Niko said.

"My name is Lea." The figure said. "Got it memorized?"

"Yeah." Niko chuckled.

Sapphire had never wanted to go home more. She was so homesick after what had occurred. She wanted to go back to what was familiar, to settle down. Hell, she'd rather jump back into the Insurgents than be stuck in whatever world she was in. She folded her arms tightly, turned around, and started back toward where she had come from, watching her feet.

She just wanted to leave.

"Sapphire!" Niko shouted landed behind her. "We need to talk."

As soon as she heard his voice, Sapphire turned around to face Niko. Her face lit up slightly, but darkened once again. "Yes. We do," she replied, frowning, her arms still folded, her voice both cold and concerned at the same time. She was good at using that tone.

"I want you to go home." Niko said. "When I lost it, my mother told me that I would hurt you in this state. I don't want to hurt you, I want you to be safe. I need you to let me handle this. Please go back home."

Sapphire blinked. That... Hadn't been what she expected. Yes, she wanted to go home, but not because of Niko. No, certainly not because of him. He was what was keeping her there. And now, he was asking her to leave? She didn't know whether or not to feel upset or thrilled.

Her face softened, and her tone became gentler. "Niko, while I may want to leave... I won't leave for a reason like that." She paused, looking down before looking back into Niko's eyes. "You're my husband, and I'm not about to just leave because you're afraid of hurting me. I can take care of myself; You know I can."

"I know." Niko said. "And I'm glad for that. I love you with all my heart and I want you to be the safe. If you think you can handle it, them I don't have a choice. Just one thing though."

Slowly, Sapphire nodded. "Of course, dear. Tell me," she replied, tilting her head ever so slightly to the side.

"I want you to open your mind to what you'll see from here on out. Suspend your disbelief." Niko said. "I've suspended my disbelief when the journey started, now it's your turn."

As Niko spoke, her softened expression vanished, replaced by one of irritation. She sighed and turned her head away from him. "We've talked about this," she told him without looking at him. "I can't do that." She wrapped her arms around herself and looked down. "I can't do that..," she repeated.

"I understand." Niko said just as irritated. "But why not? What has caused you to close your mind so much? Why won't you tell me? If you don't wanna tell me it's fine. I'll never ask again."

Niko looked around and saw the world had frozen in time and a figure appeared above them. The figure giggled and hopped down from her perch. The figure wore a silver hoodie and a pair of bluish pink cargo pants.

"Having a lover's spat are we?" The girl said. "Something I think we all should've seen coming."

"Who are you?" Niko asked. "How do you know us?"

"I'm someone close to you, brother." The figure said. "It's me! Flora?"

Niko took a closer look at Flora and it took a while to see it was in fact Flora. He walked to her and hugs her tight.

"Flora!" Niko said."you're alive?! How?!"

"Let's just say that I had help." Flora replied. "I'm sorry I couldn't make it to your wedding. But congrats!"

Sapphire sighed inwardly. More people. She shook her head and turned away from Niko and the one called Flora, waiting for time to unfreeze so she could get on her business. Maybe she would just return home. She loved Niko, truly, but this was all insane and ridiculous and it was just so hard to deal with.

"Allow me to unfreeze time for ya!" Flora said snapping her fingers. Suddenly the world began moving and setting itself at the proper time. Niko looked at Sapphire and sighed.

"It was nice to meet you again sis." Niko said. "But Sapphire and I have to go stop Xehanort."

"I know." Flora said. "I'm going with you! Riku sent me to help you. Donald and goofy are needed back at Disney Castle so I was told to pilot the Gummi Ship for you."

Sapphire looked over her shoulder. "Let's get moving then. I don't want to waste any time." Her voice was sharp and rough, the most common tone she would use.

"Okay..." Flora said snapping her fingers teleporting everyone to the Gummi Ship.

Flora pushed a button and the Gummi Ship sprung to life transforming into a new ship. The ship was now a shade of floral pink and rose red. Niko looked around at the new cockpit and smiled.

"Nice!" Niko shouted happily. "Nice redesign!"

"Thanks!" Flora responded. "Alright you two! Strap in! We're blowing this popsicle stand!"

Niko quickly did so fastening his seatbelt.

Sapphire in a disgruntled fashion did the same, sitting down and fastening her own seat belt, doing so slowly with narrowed eyes. She hoped they'd be able to take care of the other princesses soon.

The gummi ship warps into a field of asteroids. Flora looked to Niko and Sapphire and smiled.

"Did Riku not mention?" Flora asked. "There are heartless between each world. We gotta take them out too. The gummi ship has weapons systems equipped so that should be something we can do."

"Okay!" Niko said. "Do we each get a turret or something?"

"Yes." Flora replied.

Sapphire got to her feet at the mention of Heartless, and went to seek out the aforementioned turret. A little killing and chaos would be sure to take her mind off of what was going on.

"Just take a turret and kill any Heartless you see." Flora says nonchalantly as she returned to the wheel and retook control of the ship.

Sapphire found the turrets quickly. She sat down behind one and observed the controls, gripping the side and running her fingers over the triggers. She narrowed her eyes and peered out the window in front of her, looking out for Heartless. Niko looked at the weapons system and to a turret and got prepared for the Heartless. As soon as Sapphire spotted Heartless, she gunned them down, a concentrated look on her face.

Niko looked around and Flora turns hard.

"Hang on you two!" Flora shouted. "We're going through an asteroid field!"

Sapphire gritted her teeth as they went through the asteroid field, bracing herself. Niko looked around at the asteroids and held on tight firing at the asteroids as they went. Sapphire was actively shooting down Heartless and asteroids, making sure to take care of anything dangerous and in their path. As Niko and Sapphire took out asteroids, Flora narrowly dodged asteroids and performed loops and flips to avoid enemy attacks. However, she collided with an asteroid, knocking out Niko's turret. Having only one turret left, Flora pushed a button and a miniature ship popped out.

"Setting primary Teeny Ship to Active Attack!" Flora shouted. "Niko take the wheel! I need to repair the turret!"

"Okay!" Niko replied running over to the steering wheel and piloting the ship with the same expertise as his sister, doing flips and dives to avoid enemy fire and asteroids.

"Do a barrel roll!" Saph shouted.

"Not funny Saph!" Niko replied before doing so anyway. "You're lucky it works!"

"Concentrate!" Sarabi shouted. "I don't know about you, but _some of us_ don't wanna die!"

"Calm your tits!" Niko shouted, narrowly avoiding a Heartless ship. "Sapphire you okay over there?!"

The insane amount of movement had started to make Sapphire nauseous, but she continued to fire at Heartless and asteroids both using her turret. She found herself getting dizzy, however. Normally when there were things outside of the ship to fight, the Insurgents would hop on out and take care of it, since their suits of armor protected them. This type of combat was strange and unfamiliar to her.

"I'm fine!" she called back to Niko despite her dizziness, her voice a growl. "Just focus on getting us out of the field!"

"You don't sound fine!" Saph said. "Niko hury up and get us out of here!"

"On it!" Niko said swerving out of the way of an asteroid. Niko hit a button on the control panel and nodded.. "Setting secondary Teeny Ship to Defend!"

"Good job Niko!" Flora said. "You gotta get us out of here! Hurry!"

Niko saw a world nearby and decided to best land there. He swerved towards the world and noticed what it was right away. It was mobius! They were heading home the whole time! Maybe something is up and the Gummi Ship was telling them to go there. WHatever the reason, Niko headed towards Mobius and landed on a nearby beach.

"Are we there yet?" Saph asked groggily before throwing up in a bucket.

"You idiot!" Sarabi shouted angrily. "What is wrong with you?"

"We made it didn't we?!" Niko replied. "Besides the Gummi Ship had Mobius in its coordinates. I was only guiding it to its destination."


	7. Allison

Once they had landed, Sapphire rested her head on the top of her turret, making incoherent noises. She hadn't been on a ship ride like that since... Since her father was alive. She was way out of practice with the wildness of space combat, and it definitely had thrown her threw a loop. She remained where she was for a while, taking deep breaths. Niko walked over to Sapphire and rubbed her back. He felt bad that his reckless flying, while badass in his opinion, put her in this state.

"Sorry Saph." Niko said. "Sorry Sapphire...I feel worst of all for you. I didn't mean to put you in this state."

While feeling sick, Sapphire didn't think she was going to throw up like Saph did. Niko's back rub was soothing, and it made her dizziness and sick feeling mostly vanished. She groaned, raised her head, and got out of the seat, her first step shaky. She grabbed her head as she wobbled a little.

"It's fine," she mumbled, waving his hand away. "Come on, let's take care of whatever's next."

"We're back on Mobius." Niko said. "It doesn't seem like the Mobius we know though. Seems like we're in a past version of Mobius."

"That's right!" Flora said. "We're in the past of Mobius. We need to help Sally."

"Sally is a princess?" Saph asked.

"Correction; she's a queen now." Flora replied. "We went to the past because Xehanort and Vanitas sent Heartless to this version of Mobius to corrupt Sally's heart while she was still young."

"Genius!" Niko said. "Very evil...but genius."

Sapphire scoffed at Niko, hitting his chest roughly with the back of her hand. "Don't compliment him," she told him sharply, looking disgusted. She didn't waste anymore time after that, quickly moving and heading out of the ship, moving carefully and cautiously and being wary.

"Ow!" Niko said. "That hurt!"

Niko and Flora followed Sapphire and Saph and Sarabi stayed behind on the ship. As the trio ran around the forest, Niko began to notice that they were walking through where Shimalu was built. Shaking his head and foirgetting his memories, he took to the trees to scout ahead. Seeing Sally in the distance he looked downard and whistled.

"Sally is in Robotropolis, surrounded by SWATbots!" Niko shouted. "It doesn't look good! As they seem to have Heartless as back up!"

"oh no!" Flora said. "You two have to use your Keyblade Gliders! They're special vehicles that are created from your keyblades! Sapphire yours is a hoverbike and Niko's is a hoverboard. Toss your keyblades in the air and they'll come down your gliders."

Niko did so and hopped out the tree. The Keyblade comes down as a hoverboard and Niko landed on it easily. Gaining his balance, Niko looked to sapphire and smiled.

"Cool!" Niko said looking at the board. "Your turn honey!"

"Don't call me that!" Sapphire called out to Niko as she through her Keyblade up. It transformed quickly, coming back down as the aforementioned hoverbike. She gave it an impressed look before throwing one leg over it and situating herself on it. She could ride a motorbike, but a hoverbike? Only one way to find out, she supposed.

The controls seemed to be akin to a motorcycle, and as she revved it, it floated further up into the air. "Ready when you are, Niko," she called out.

Niko nodded as Flora pulled out her extreme gear and hopped on and nodded. Niko turned to face the direction of Sally and pushed off and rode down the road. Sapphire followed directly behind Niko, preparing for what was to come. She didn't know Sally very well, nor did she like her, but if she was in danger, she knew they had to help. When they got close, Niko swept up Sally and stopped at a clearing. Putting her down, Niko checked her for injuries. When she was cleared, he smiled.

"Get as far as possible from here!" Niko said as the Heartless approach.

"Okay!" Sally said.

"Get ready!" Niko said summoning his Keyblade. "You're going down!"

Niko rushed at the Heartless, attacking with much brutality. Sapphire leaped off the motorbike and it quickly turned back into her Keyblade. She joined Niko in slaying the Heartless, moves calculated and her slashes careful and precise. She was quick and efficient in taking down the enemy. Once the Heartless were gone, Niko dispelled his Keyblade and looked at Sapphire handing her a water bottle.

"You could use the rehydration." Niko said. "I have trained myself to go days and even weeks without water."

"You mean like a camel?" Flora asked. "They sounds interesting don't you think Sapphire?"

After putting her Keyblade on her back, Sapphire glared at Niko and Flora. "I could care less," she grumbled before taking a swig of the water. "Where did Sally go? Is she alright?"

"She's fine." Niko said. "Flora what now?"

"Find the world's keyhole and lock it with your Keyblades." Flora replied. "First we gotta get our bearings first. Let's go to the Freedom Fighters HQ."

"Right." Niko said.

"Following you," Sapphire told Niko as she took another drink from her water bottle, tilting her neck to the side to crack it a little. After leaving the Insurgents, she didn't always fancy taking point.

Walking towards the Freedom Fighter HQ, Niko saw everyone getting prepared for a wedding of some sort. Reminding him of the wedding he left behind, Niko turned his attention to Sally who came up with her father.

"This is my father, Maximilian Acorn." Sally said. "He wanted to thank you."

"You three are in our debt." Maximilian said. "Thank you for saving my daughter."

"It was no trouble." Niko replied.

"We just did what we thought was right."

Maximilian looked to Sapphire. Tilting his head and looking as if he remembers someone.

"Allison?" Maximilian asked.

Sapphire had walked with the others to the Freedom Fighter HQ. She had bowed her head politely when confronted by Sally's father and his thanks. Though, when he spoke her mother's name, she felt her eyes go wide as she froze. Her heart beat hard in her chest, and she felt her mind become flooded with sudden memories and emotions.

This was a past Mobius, right? Was Allison still alive? Did Maximilian know of her from the military's cooperation with the Freedom Fighters? She wasn't sure, but saying that hearing the name caught her off guard would be a gross understatement.

"No, m-my name is Sapphire," she replied, trying to recover from the shock, swallowing as her eyes narrowed slightly. "Sapphire..," she repeated, mostly to herself. "I'm just glad Sally's safe," she replied to his thanks, avoiding eye contact.

"Sorry... You just look so much like her." Maximilian said. "You see she went missing looking for Espio. Could you look for them for me?"

"Sure!" Flora said.

Look for Espio, and Allison? Sapphire didn't know if she could do that. Her mother had died by her own failure, and she didn't want to see that. She couldn't.

"Excuse me," she murmured under her breath to no one in particular, appearing to still be quite shaken. She stumbled away, still wracked with thoughts of her mother and her death. Once she had walked far enough away, she leaned on a tree and breathed rapidly, trying to calm her beating heart.

"We'll do it." Niko said. "We'll go as soon as Sapphire calms down."

"Niko maybe you should go find her." Flora said. "Just in case she needs you."

"I'll find her." Niko said running off.

Sapphire, leaning against the tree, put her head in her hands as she continued to take shuddering breaths. The thought of Allison being alive in this time period was frightening to her. If she was alive, she couldn't face her after everything she had done. After everything that had happened with her dream, with the Insurgents. Without warning a young Allison pops out of a tree nearby. Looking at Sapphire and tilting her head, she walked over to her and smiled.

"Hey are you Sapphire?" She asked.

Sapphire's eyes went wide at the sudden appearance of her mother. She froze, and she felt like the world had stopped. Her mother... Her mother was alive right now. She observed her, her age and appearance. She'd die a few months later, based on her appearance. Regardless, seeing her hurt her, and she didn't know how to react. She couldn't react. She was facing her mother, who would die. A mother she would fail. A mother who wouldn't live to see her grow up.

"I'm... I'm just a friend of hers," she replied stupidly, shaking her head. She couldn't talk to her like she was her mother. She couldn't. Not when she knew what would happen. What she would do. She couldn't talk to her like a daughter to a mother.

"Maximillion said you went to look for Espio?" she asked, avoiding eye contact, trying to calm down, despite the fact her living mother was standing in front of her.

"That's funny... I could've swore I heard him call you Sapphire. What was his name... Niko."

"Sapphire!" Niko said running up her. "You okay?"

"She isn't hurt, Niko." Allison replied. "She's fine. I think she doesn't realize that I put up sub versions of myself to make sure I exist in each timeline I'm in. I know she exists and I know she's also afraid.

Sapphire glared at Niko. There went that plan. Her eyes moved back to Allison, then back to Niko, and to Allison again.

She couldn't do this. She couldn't face her. She couldn't. She couldn't.

"I can't do this," she muttered, clutching her head in her hands. "I can't... Do this..." Her breathing became heavy again and she began taking steps back away from her mother. She mumbled something about going back to the ship before, once again, running away. She felt like she was going to be sick.

"Ummm...Allison?" Niko said. "You should go look for Espio. I'll deal with Sapphire."

"If you say so." Allison said smiling. "She must feel so sad and guilty because of what happened to me."

"She thinks it's her fault." Niko said.

"That's not true." Allison said. "We have to set the record straight."

Sapphire moved quickly back to the ship. She sat down on the floor of it and rested her back to the wall, taking shuddery breaths as she tried to calm down, failing to calm down, truly. She was shaking and she wrapped her arms around herself. She wanted to leave this time period. She needed to. She couldn't stand to further coexist in a world where her mother was still alive because of how much of a failure she would be in her eyes. Allison had always been rough, but compassionate, and if she saw what she had done with that... She couldn't do this. She needed to go back to the present.

"Giving up are we?" Niko said walking in. "Don't worry. Allison went to find Espio. I can tell you're stressed and worried. What are you afraid of? If I saw my mom, I'd be trying really hard to keep my composure."

Sapphire shook her head, unable to look at Niko. "The things I did in the name of her... The things my father did..." She shivered and shook her head once more. "I can't look at her. Not after what I've done. Not after what WE did." She was referring to the Insurgents, which had once been Allison's dream. It had been a failure though, and turned into an operation to hide the Director's crimes. And she helped them. They all had, hiding like cowards behind Allison's memory.

Taking Sapphire's hand, Niko smiled and kissed her cheek. His eyes lit up with their usual flair as he spoke.

"I know your pain." Niko replied. "But you can't run. She knows of what becomes of her. I have to admit she's taking what happens to her pretty well. I guess what I have to say is...the past f*** sucks and it can and will hurt. But you have two choices; either run from them and go home...or learn from it. I want you to learn from it...but it's up to you, Sapphire. If you want to go home, Saph and Sarabi will take you home and I'll stop Xehanort and Vanitas alone."

She looked up at Niko as he spoke. Sapphire was still shaking slightly, and she held his hand tightly. His touch was comfortable, and his smile and kiss was familiar. She bit her lip and looked down before turning her sapphire eyes up to look at him again.

"You won't let me do it alone, will you?" she asked softly, her eyes full of worry and fear. She couldn't face the past and her mistakes on her own. That much was simple. But if he was willing to do it with her…

"I'll never ever let you do it alone." Niko replied. "You're my everything and we're in this together. No matter what. I love you and I will always love you."

Holding Sapphire close Niko began to remember when Sapphire said yes when he proposed to her. He felt the same happiness he felt back then.

"So are gonna leave now?" Niko asked. "Or are we gonna go kick Xehanort's ass?"

Sapphire hugged Niko tightly. She felt suddenly re-energized and re-inspired, all by Niko's words. If he was by her side, she was confident she could face any challenge in front of her, as cliche as that would be.

"Let's beat his fucking ass," she muttered with an almost sick smile, easily feeling much better than she had before all due to Niko's support.

Upon leaving the Gummi Ship, the two caught up with Allison who was carrying an unconscious Espio. She smiled and sat down happily.

"I'm glad you are calmer now, Sapphire." Allison said. "There's something I wanted to tell you. You are greater than you think you are. You were destined to carry on what I died doing. Your father thought he was killing in my name. Ha! He never knew when to quit. I'm just glad he was stopped before if all got even. If you're looking for the world's keyhole, Mobius doesn't have one. However, Eggman seems to helping a bald man and his spiky haired friend. That might be worth checking out. In fact, I'll go with you. I have always wanted to see how my daughter fares in combat."

Niko took in all the information he was hearing and looked to Sapphire to see if she was okay.

Sapphire looked almost as if she were going to cry at her mother's words. She smiled sadly and nodded. Now that she was over her initial fear of seeing her mother, she didn't want to believe she'd die in a few months time, most likely a year. Though, she pushed her thoughts aside.

"Dad taught me a lot," she told Allison a little too eagerly, as if she were a child again, eager to please her mother. "You... You did too, before you headed off for the war." She wrung her hands together before biting her lip, straightening herself up.

"Alright, let's move."

Niko nodded and walked towards Robotropolis. He was glad to see Sapphire and his mother in law bonding and hoped Sapphire will have some closure when this is all over. Walking past all the robots and standing in front of Eggman Niko saw that Eggman has a giant robot like Heartless next to him.

"Ahh well if it isn't the Freedom Fighters!" Eggman said laughing. "What do you think of my newest robotic associate?"

"A Heartless?!" Niko shouted summoning his Keyblade.

"Thanks to Xehanort, I can finally take down the Freedom Fighters once and for all! Now my friend! Attack!"

Suddenly a blue blue rushes past them. To Niko that meant only one person.

"SONIC!" Niko shouted.

Sapphire had quickly drawn her Keyblade, but she'd been taken off guard by the appearance of the Blue Blur. She didn't know Sonic very well, but she knew he and Niko had been close. She warily took a step back, eyes cautious and ever anticipating. She was back in the zone.

Sonic knocked the Heartless back a bit and jumped, landing beside Allison.

"You guys can handle this right?" Sonic asked.

"Yeah. We can." Allison replied.

Sonic nodded and took off. Niko smiled and looked towards the Heartless. Getting ready for a brawl unlike anything Mobius had ever seen.

Sapphire looked up at the Heartless robot. She glared at it, gripping her Keyblade tighter. She looked to Niko.

"Follow me up," she called out to him before charging at the creature, mostly to gauge its reaction, its defenses, and how it moves.

Niko nodded and followed Sapphire. Allison stood and watched the pair fight. She didn't have any intentions of fighting. She wanted to see her daughter in action at least once. The robot was large, so Sapphire knew she'd have to use a similar tactic to what she used to fight the giant Heartless. She leaped up and spun her body toward it, slashing her Keyblade. Niko ran towards the Heartless and slid underneath it. Once clear, Niko ran into the wall and hopped off of it and performed a downward slash, splitting the Heartless in half. Allison looked at the fight and clapped when it was over. She was surprised at how strong her daughter was.

Niko heard the clapping and bow clumsily. Eggman's robot was easy to defeat, even if it was a Heartless. But, was that supposed to be a surprise? It was Eggman's robot, after all.

Still wary, Sapphire kept her Keyblade in her hand. She looked to her mother as she clapped, smiling weakly. She had never been alive long enough to see the extent of her skill. The fact that she was now was surreal. Niko teleported everyone out and back to the Freedom Fighters Headquarters and sighed in relief. He was glad that everything was at peace for a while. Allison looked to Sapphire and smiled.

"You were so strong." Allison began. "I didn't expect any less from you. You are almost a spitting image of me in almost every way. I'm proud of you, Sapphire and nothing will change that. You must continue your journey now. Xehanort is still out there and your journey is not yet over. Here is something for the road."

Allison took off a sapphire pendant from around her neck and handed it to Sapphire.

"I meant to give this to you when you were older, but I never get a chance to." Allison said smiling "So, now I can give it to you. I love you so much Sapphire and I have nothing but high hopes for you. And um Niko?"

"Yes?" Niko responded.

"Take care of my daughter." Allison said bluntly. "Don't you dare hurt her."

"I won't." Niko said. "I promise."

As Allison talked to Niko, Sapphire observed the sapphire pendant she had been given. It was her Allison's favorite gemstone, the sapphire. She'd seen her wearing that very necklace in pictures. Slowly, she put it around her own neck.

Unable to contain herself, she threw her arms around her mother, hugging her tightly. "Father loved you," she murmured. "He was just so broken when you left, when he found out." She paused for a moment. "We both were." She shut her eyes, a single tear rolling down her cheek. "I love you, Mother."

"I love you too Sapphire." Allison said. She felt the on her shoulder and smiled. She knew Niko was somehow getting her to open her emotions. She could sense how the Director forced their daughter to lock away her emotions. But the one tear she physically felt told her that dark barrier that Sapphire's emotions hid behind was breaking.

"We better get going." Niko said. "Xehanort is still out there. We still have a job to do."

"Of course." Allison said, letting go of Sapphire. "You two are such a cute couple. Not to mention fierce combatants. Take out Xehanort and make him pay for the problems that he has caused."

"Okay. Flora!" Niko shouted.

"Niko." Flora replied. "I have to stay here. This s was where we all died...mom...dad and me. Riku pulled me from this point in time to help you get here. I'm sorry that I can't go with you."

Niko wasn't surprised all that much. He understood and needed, kissing his sister on the forehead and hugged her close. He smiled as if to say thank you for the help and turn to the Gummi Ship. Sapphire wiped her tear with her finger. She smiled sadly at her mother, and she nodded her head in thanks toward Flora. She then turned and followed Niko into the ship, trying to hold it together, trying to figure out whether or not she had truly just seen her mother. She held onto the pendant around her neck. That was proof that she had.


	8. Undersea Kombat

The Gummi Ship took off and Niko looked around and saw a new world neither had seen before. He also noticed it was nothing but water. Snapping his finger, Niko looked to Sapphire.

"Hey uh Sapphire?" Niko began. "I don't quite remember what your position was on mermaids."

Niko pointed to the world in front of them and blushed.

"You see...the only way we can survive in the world is to take on the appearance of mermaids." Niko continued. "I don't have a problem if you'd rather stay here, but the Gummi Ship can only stay outside of a world for a few minutes. Then it sorta just disappears until needed."

Sapphire peered out the window, having mostly recovered now. She was good at that, recovering and getting back on her feet. She shrugged and folded her arms.

"Just don't leave me for one and we won't have an issue," she replied casually and sarcastically. What was the problem with mermaids?

"Don't worry." Niko said. "No mermaid will ever replace you."

"A quick flash of light and the duo appear in the water now taking the form mermaids. Niko has a shark's bottom half and Sapphire has a typical mermaid look with a sapphire clam shell bra.

((Which I don't know of...there were so many in The Little Mermaid.))

Niko looked at himself then at Sapphire and shook his head quickly to remove any unsightly ideas from his head.

"So according to the journal." Jiminy's voice came from inside a bubble. "The princess of Atlantica is known as Ariel."

Sapphire was a little alarmed by suddenly having a mermaid tail, but she recovered quickly. "Do we know where she is?" she asked Jiminy, swimming a little bit in circles to orient herself.

"No." Jiminy said. "Maybe we should ask her father, King Triton."

"Good idea." Niko replied.

"And where would he be?" Sapphire inquired, tilting her head to the side, eyes wandering through the ocean around her.

"Let's try the castle over there." Niko replied swimming towards it. Suddenly a scream is heard. Looking towards the direction, Jiminy gasped.

"That's Ariel!" Jiminy shouted. "Let's go you two!"

As soon as the scream was heard, Sapphire swam in the direction it came from, a look of determination on her face. She didn't wait for Jiminy's cue before she took off. Niko followed Sapphire, keeping close behind her. Niko spotted Ariel first and swam in front of her to block an attack.

"Get to safety!" Niko said. "Let us handle them."

Sapphire summoned her Keyblade (which was, much to her chagrin, unable to rest on her back in the mermaid form), ready to fight whatever dangers it was that assaulted Ariel. She gestured for Ariel to hurry and flee, scanning over her to make sure she wasn't harmed. Just as Ariel left, Heartless appeared. Niko got ready to fight and swam towards them swinging expertly at the Heartless. Sapphire was really getting used to fighting with her Keyblade. The Heartless were easily defeated, her and Niko slaying them efficiently and with expert prowess.

Once cleared out, Ariel swam out of her location and swam around Niko and Sapphire.

"Who are you?" Ariel asked. "You don't look to be from around here."

"We're from another ocean..." Niko lied. He looked to Sapphire going she'd say the same.

"Sapphire we can't where we're from." Jiminy whispered into her ear. "We have to protect the world order."

Sapphire looked to Ariel. "Don't worry about who it is we are," she replied gently as she could, voice still sharp and hard. "Are you alright?"

"Yes." Ariel replied.

"That's a relief." Niko replied. "Let's get you back home. I'm Niko. This is Sapphire."

"It's nice to meet you both. I'm Ariel."

"A pleasure," Sapphire told Ariel. "Just lead us to your home and we'll make sure you get there safely."

"Okay. Follow me." Ariel said swimming away. Niko looked to Sapphire and shrugged following her towards King Triton's castle.

Sapphire made a slightly disgruntled noise, following after Niko, who was following after Ariel. She felt slightly suspicious. Jiminy noticed Sapphire's skepticism. He was rather good at that and wasn't afraid to call her out on it.

"Sapphire did you know I was as skeptical as you are now when you and Niko came along?" Jiminy asked.

"You had, and still have, every reason to be," Sapphire muttered, her reply low as she swam along. Jiminy certainly seemed like a skeptic, so this came as no surprise to her.

"well I don't now." Jiminy said. "Because I feel like I can trust you. You might seem suspicious of Ariel, but I wager in time you'll learn to trust her too."

Sapphire let out a dry, humorless laugh. "Might be a mistake on your end," she muttered as she swam on. "Let's just say I have trust issues, Jiminy." That was an understatement.

"If you insist Sapphire." Jiminy said chuckling. Upon arrival to the castle, Trident gave a look of pure anger mixed in with relief that his daughter was safe.

"Ariel! Thank goodness you're safe!" Trident said.

"Daddy! Melody is still out there and Ursula somehow was revived!" Ariel said. "We have to save her!"

"Ursula's alive?!" Jiminy and Trident shouted in unison. "We gotta stop her!"

"I'm going to make the assumption that Ursula is evil and Melody is Ariel's...daughter." Niko said taking in the situation. "We'll help!"

"You will?" Ariel asked "Oh thank you! She's in Ursula's Grotto. Please hurry!"

"You got it!" Niko said saluting! "Sapphire! Let's go!"

Niko swam off pretty quickly. Sapphire rolled her eyes and swam after Niko, summoning her Keyblade. More villains to take down? And so soon? Niko swam as fast as he could towards Ursula's Grotto. He never really knew where it was and he just went with his gut, eventually leading them to the right place. Following closely behind Niko, Sapphire continued on, eyes scanning back and forth searching for threats.

"You found the place quick," she mumbled, eyes darting back and forth.

"I took a wild guess..." Niko said.

Sapphire gave Niko a slight smile before going back on guard again. Though strongly opposed to the nonsense of this new adventure and originally upset with her break being cut short, it felt good being back in action, however rudely thrust into it. She had missed the thrill and how it made her heart race, and she had missed the violence that she had always seemed to feed on. Niko could take care of all of the unusual things and she could kill.

Jiminy quickly snapped his fingers and looked to Niko and Sapphire.

"I almost forgot!" Jiminy said. "You two have access to Keyblade Transformations! These allow you to change your Keyblade's appearance into another weapon. Niko you can change your Keyblade into a Bow or a staff. and Sapphire yours changes into a pair of twin tactical pistols or a pair of fans. Go ahead and try it!"

Niko nodded and concentrated hard as his Keyblade turned into a staff. Nodding his head in approval, he changed it into a bow. He then looked to Sapphire and smiled.

"Your turn!" Niko said.

Tilting her head to the side, Sapphire held her Keyblade in two hands. As she pulled apart, she felt it separate, and the blade began to morph into the aforementioned fans, sharp edges appearing on the sides. She then focused and changed them into the pistols. She grinned in an almost sick fashion as she observed them. She think she had found her new favorite weapon.

"I like it," she murmured, tilting them in the water to get a better look.

"Amazing!" niko said. "Let's get in there and save Melody."

As he swam inside the grotto he began to look around. He was amazed how sick and f*** up Ursula lived. He almost threw up if it wasn't for the fact that Melody was swimming at them. Niko looked to her and nodded.

"We were sent by your mother!" Niko called out. "Hurry up and get out! We'll take care of this!"

"Thank you!" Was all Melody said before taking off.

Sapphire observed the horrid place and scowled. She raised her pistols and began to fend off the Heartless that lurked in Ursula's grotto, using the pistols expertly and with familiar ease. Niko began to fight them off as well, striking each one with deadly efficiency. Niko saw Ursula and rushed at her, only to get greeted with a stabbing to the stomach.

"Niko!" Sapphire exclaimed, her eyes lighting up with worry. Fury crossed into her eyes as she saw Ursula, feeling rage build up in her stomach. Nobody stabs her husband and gets away with it. She fired round after round at the sea witch, swimming closer to her, eyes flashing black.

Ursula began fighting off the bullets but gets hit with a majority of them. Niko began to sink to the ocean floor until he heard Sapphire call his name. He felt an off pulse of energy and he glowed purple. Niko them began firing bolts of magic at Ursula until she went down. Ursula then disappeared from from sight. Niko dispelled his Keyblade and looked to Sapphire.

"Babe?" He asked. "You alright?"

As soon as Ursula vanished, her pistols vanished and she swam quickly to Nero, eyes wide with worry.

"Am I alright? Are you serious?" she asked, frantic and sounding almost angry. "Are YOU alright?" she scanned his body for injuries, eyes wildly checking where he had gotten stabbed, chest rising and falling rapidly. He had to be okay.

"Babe relax!" Niko said chuckling "I'm okay."

Sapphire took a deep breath. She thought she'd lost him there for a moment. Abruptly, she threw her arms around him, hugging Niko close to her, shutting her eyes.

"God, don't scare me like that..."

"I'm sorry." Niko said. "So isn't it odd she just disintegrated like that? If she's the main source of Darkness here, that means she should still be here. But I don't sense her."

"Right now, let's just go back to the palace." Jiminy said.

"Yeah " Niko replied.

"R-right," Sapphire mumbled, pulling back, cheeks flushing red with embarrassment. With danger looming over their heads, it was no time to get all mushy like that. She straightened up quickly and began to swim off toward the palace, forcing herself back into a more proper mindset. Niko swims down the path back to the palace, where the trio saw everyone was fine. Niko smiled and looked to Sapphire and nods. He swam to the keyhole and sealed it, teleporting them to the Gummi Ship waiting for them. Niko took control of the cockpit.

"You ready to go?" Niko asked.

"I'm ready!" Saph said.

"Let's just go." Sarabi said.

Niko took off to the next world. Sapphire was glad to have legs again instead of a tail. She sat down in her usual spot, hand going to the sapphire charm on her necklace. She looked downward and she played with it, her mind somewhere else entirely. She needed to dispel the softness she had portrayed earlier if she actually wanted to get stuff done. It'd hold her back and make her weaker. If they were to defeat the evil, she needed the right mindset.

Niko turned on the autopilot and looked to Sapphire and sits next to her.

"What's on your mind?" Niko asked.

Letting her hand fall from the necklace, Sapphire turned her eyes to Niko. "Just thinking about what else we'll have to face," she replied, her answer not a lie but not exactly the truth, either. Her facial expression remained... Distracted. There's something more to this. Niko thought as he looked into Sapphire's eyes.

"Sapphire, I promised you when we got married that I would always be there to listen to what you're feeling." Niko said. "Please tell me what's wrong."

"Uh. I hate to interrupt," Chip said. "But we are arriving at our next destination."

"Well, I'll be darned." Jiminy said. "It's The Land of Departure. This is where Ventus, Terra and Aqua trained. I wonder if they're here?"

Niko walked over to the cockpit and grabbed the wheel taking off the autopilot. He looked to sapphire as if to say we're not done talking about this and landed the gummi ship. He was immediately met with a tackle and a hug. He looked up and saw someone he thought died.

"C-Caramel?" Niko said.


	9. Into Darkness Part 1

Sapphire was glad the subject was dropped, but Nero's look made her nervous. However, what made her more anxious was the appearance of Caramel. She... She shouldn't be here. She couldn't. But, then again, her mother shouldn't have been there either. But... She watched Caramel die.

She took a step back, staying in the ship for the time being, a cautious hand creeping up her back to grab hold of the handle of her Keyblade. Just in case.

"Turns out when Herato "killed" me he just removed my heart from my body." Caramel said. "I ended up here somehow and Miss Aqua has been seeing over my recovery. Turns out I can use something called the Keyblade."

"That's awesome!" Niko said happily. "So can Sapphire and I."

Relaxing significantly, Sapphire's hand fell away from her Keyblade with a breath.

"Are you alright, then?" she asked, taking a few steps forward, exiting the ship, tilting her head to the side to observe Caramel.

"I'm fine Sapphire." Caramel said. "I'm glad you guys are okay too. I can take you to see Miss Aqua. She has been searching the sky for your Gummi Ship. Come on!"

Caramel took Niko by the hand and yanked him along.

"Aagh!" Niko shouted. "Caramel!"

Softly, Sapphire chuckled as Caramel dragged Niko along. She shook her head with a smile as she followed after the two. The two of them were awfully close, and it was nice seeing a friendship like that. As they approached, Aqua smiled softly. She had heard about Niko from Caramel and felt almost honored to see him. She barely noticed her pupil, a young hedgehog named Andrew run by her and point his Keyblade at Niko.

"Andrew!" Aqua called out. "He and his friend are our guests!"

As soon as the Keyblade was pointed at Niko, Sapphire stepped forward, drew hers, and pointed at the one called Andrew. Her movements were incredibly quick. She was behind Niko one moment and by his side in the next. She narrowed her eyes at Andrew's defensive nature. She dared not move an inch, but she remained silent, a demand to lower his weapon. Andrew sighed heavily and dispelled his Keyblade. He looked to Sapphire and glared at her. Walking back to Aqua, he nodded and went back in the castle.

"You must excuse Andrew...he's very protective." Aqua said. "Caramel told me about the both of you. It's nice to meet you. I'm Aqua."

Sapphire met Andrew's glare with her own. She slowly slid her own Keyblade back onto her back once he had withdrawn his. Her eyes turned to the girl who introduced herself as Aqua. She bowed her head slightly.

"Sapphire," she introduced.

qua thought for a moment. Where did she hear that name? Her eyes widened.

"I remember now!" Aqua said. "Your mother spoke of you when she visited."

"Her spirit still lives here." Caramel said smiling.

"Yes." Aqua replied. "Seeing as I'm a Keyblade master, I was asked by Riku to teach you two a few things. Things that you need to know going forward."

"What else is there to teach us?" Niko asked.

"Quite a lot, if you're up to it?" Aqua said.

"She's a really good teacher!" Caramel said.

"There were a few thing that Allison never knew about." Aqua said. "I taught her how to use a Keyblade. It was her who passed it on to you Sapphire. They Keyblade you use was hers."

She just kept talking about her. Sapphire felt herself tense, and the Keyblade on her back suddenly felt very heavy. She narrowed her eyes at Aqua, restraining herself from letting her anger take over.

"I have a memory of my mother," she started slowly, "and I'd rather not have that memory be altered. If you could refrain from talking about her, that'd be great." Her voice was very cool, but it was evident that she was keeping herself in order.

"Of course." Aqua said. She could sense that Sapphire that Sapphire wanted to not speak of her mother. Looking to Niko she nodded.

"So." Niko said. "Shall we head inside?"

"Right. Follow me." Aqua said.

As she often had on this little adventure, Sapphire found herself to be doubtful. Not only doubtful though, but... Tired. They hadn't really rested at all, and she could've gone for some sleep. She had no idea what time it was, though, so she just kept moving along, following Aqua as she had instructed.

"I know you two are tired." Aqua said. "So Caramel could you please lead Niko and Sapphire to their rooms?"

Sapphire let out a very brief sigh of relief. "Thank you," she told Aqua, expressing her gratitude, feeling her weariness flood completely throughout her body. She was eager to get some rest, and to have a little bit of time to just talk to Niko a little and see how he was doing. Later that night, when they were settled in their room, Niko sat on the bed next to Sapphire. He felt so tired and weary that he would've passed out. But he needed to stay awake, for he knew something was up with Sapphire.

The room provided was nice, comfortable. Sapphire sat on the bed, legs folded, eyes looking down at the blanket. She ran her fingers along it slowly, enjoying the softness of it. She looked up at Niko as he sat down next to her on the bed, and she felt a weary smile cross onto her face.

"You holding up alright?" she asked softly, pulling her hand back from the blanket.

"Yeah." Niko replied. "Are you? Now that we are alone, we can continue the conversation we were having on the ship."

Sapphire was glad to hear Niko was okay. If he was, she could be, too. "I'm fine," she replied, bringing her knees up and hugging them to her chest. She sighed. "I don't even remember the conversation we were having on the ship..." It was a half lie and a half truth.

"You're wondering about what we have to face next aren't you?" Niko asked. "Buck up, Sapphire. I know it's been grueling and hard for you, but we have to keep pressing on. I know there's something else you're concerned about. Tell me what it is."

Sapphire laughed a very dry, short, and tired laugh. "I'm not worried about what we'll have to fight. It's rather the opposite, really..." She shook her head, laughing quietly again, only this one was a little more genuine. "I'm sorry. That doesn't make any sense." A single hand went down to the blanket, toying with it once more.

She had something on her mind, sure, but she didn't want to burden Niko with it. Well... Not yet, at least. She'd have to tell him eventually, of course, but she wanted to wait until this was all over to tell him. But, with the persistence he was showing... She wasn't sure if she'd be able to keep it from him that much longer.

"Sapphire?" Niko asked, not even looking at her anymore. "Do you remember how I had always been super honest with you? There's something about this whole thing that is bothering you. I know you well enough to know when you are hiding something. I won't force you to tell me because I love you too much to do so."

Niko then stood up and walked away. He hoped she wouldn't keep secrets from him any longer, but he felt foolish to think so. Walking outside, Niko looked at the night sky. Taking in a deep breath he noticed Aqua walking up behind him in her nightgown.

"Marriage is sacred," Aqua said. "So I've heard. Give her time Niko and she'll open up."

"I know." Niko replied sighing heavily. "I hoped that she wouldn't bottle up her emotions anymore after she saw her mother...but I guess I got my hopes up. Anyway, I hoped now that we are married she'd be...I don't know...more happy. I know she is, but she has too many secrets and she's still holding back her feelings. No matter what she could tell me I'd be happy and understanding."

She watched him go. Sapphire sighed and ran her hands over her face tiredly. She felt awful keeping it from Niko, even though she herself wasn't completely sure. If she told him tonight, would it distract him? Hurt him? How WOULD he react? Would he be angry? Would he leave her? She wasn't sure. But he wanted to know, and she felt as if he needed to know.

Maybe... Maybe she'd just tell him. Get it out of the way.

She stood from the bed and sighed. She wouldn't go after him. She didn't even know where he went. She stepped into the adjoined bathroom to smoke for a quick moment, shutting the door behind her. She wouldn't smoke long; she didn't want to completely taint the room. She just needed a cigarette before she talked to Niko, and before she went to bed.

"Just trust her Niko" Aqua said. "She'll tell you when she's ready."

Niko nodded and walked back into the room, and sat down on the bed. He looked out the window and smiled at the stars. He knew a lot of things about stars, but he never knew each star was a world until Jiminy told him. He laid down on the bed and smiled.

The smoke was exactly what Sapphire needed to calm her nerves. She threw the butt of her cigarette into the trash can, washed her hands, and washed her face. She stepped back into the bedroom, barely seeing Niko in the dull light of the moon and stars. "You back?" she asked, padding quietly back to the bed, voice low.

"Yeah." Niko replied. "You must have really needed that smoke break."

Niko chuckled at this. He was used to seeing Sapphire leaving the room to take a smoke. While he used to find it terrible and a bad habit, he'd grown used to it. Sitting up, he gave Sapphire a quick peck on the lips.

Sapphire's soft, weary smile returned. She sat down next to Niko on the bed, kissing his cheek in return. She rested her head on his shoulder, her eyes suddenly becoming dark and cloudy, and her smile falling.

"I'm sorry I was being so dodgy earlier," she told him, keeping her head on his shoulder. "What I want to talk about is just... Hard to talk about." She bit her lip gently. "Are you okay with discussing something tonight?"

"I'll never not be." Niko said. "What's on your mind?"

Sapphire took a deep breath. Okay, she was going to do this. She was going to tell him. She slowly sat up and faced him, taking his hands in his, looking at Niko, a very nervous light in her eyes.

"A lot has happened since our wedding was crashed. That was both know." Alright, that was as good as a place to start as any. "I hadn't expected to be thrust back into action so quickly after our vacation. It caught me off guard, all of the whimsical things and the intense combat. But, I adjusted, and as much as I couldn't stand how odd it was, I... I fell back in love with the thrill of the fight. And, after seeing my mother and remembering what her dream had been before it was twisted, remembering how I became a fighter, realizing what I should be doing..." she sighed and shook her head, still obviously nervous. She needed to quit beating around the bush.

"What I'm trying to say is... I want to reenlist in the Insurgents."

"I see." Niko said. "I just can't believe that you would want to. I understand that you were always a fighter. That's why I love you. You're brave and strong. If anything I hoped we'd do our own thing...but if you want to rejoin the Insurgents, I won't stop you. I could go back to going solo like I usually do. Only calling for help if I truly need it."

Niko sighed heavily. He was used to this...the Insurgents were something Sapphire grew up into. If she felt it best to rejoin them, he wasn't going to stop her. So much for that, Niko thought. When all this was over, he had silently hoped he could just leave the Insurgents be and help only when they needed them, but knowing that he was gonna have to be at home waiting for Sapphire like a dog waiting for its master was sorta infuriating, but he knew he'd have to get used to it.

She wanted him to understand. She needed him to understand. A look of dark sadness crossed her face as she looked down, her anxiety clear on her face. She hated doing this to him, but... She knew it was best for her.

"I know you don't like them, but I feel like that's where I belong," she told him, raising her eyes to look at Niko once more. "When my father died, I did everything in my ability to make the Insurgents what my mother had always wanted them to be. And after seeing her... I know it's what I have to do." She paused again, taking a deep breath.

"Awhile ago, a few months before Hotaru woke up, I left them to Garnet. I don't know what changes he's made to it since I've been gone, but maybe there will be a way for me to join and not be so far away from you." She bit her lip, running her tongue along it nervously. "I love you with all my heart, Niko, and I hope you know that, but I also hope you understand." She paused once more. "Are... Are you angry?"

"I admit. I am a bit livid." Niko replied "I hoped you wouldn't go back to them. I hoped we'd do our own thing. You know...the greatest thing about you is your resolve and bravery...I will accept the fact you want to rejoin them. I don't think you should, but I truly mind anymore."

Niko was running out of words to say. He was trying so hard to stay calm about it, but it was really hard. As he stayed silent, a wisp of purple smoke escaped from his body.

"Gimme a second." Niko said leaving again. "I can't deal with this."

Sapphire withdrew her hands, running them through her hair and rubbing her eyes as she let out a heavy sigh. She knew she should've waited to tell him. He was so angry. He was so upset. She hated seeing him like that, especially if she had caused it. She could tell that staying calm was becoming increasingly difficult for him, and once he left, she felt a sharp pain in her chest, and a flicker of fear in her stomach from the appearance of smoke leaving his body. She wanted him to understand, but she didn't know how she could make him.

She loved him to death. Niko was one of the only things that truly made her happy. But, one of the other things that made her happy was fighting with the Insurgents. Up until she had seen her mother again, she too thought they'd do their own thing once this was all over. Do their own thing, and relax. But this whole adventure made her realize that relaxing wasn't her thing. She thrived in the heat of combat. While relaxing was nice, and while she'd still like to do it some, it wasn't for her. Taking it easy had never been in her nature.

Sapphire didn't know whether or not Niko actually was going to come back. Slowly, she maneuvered under the blankets, letting them cover her legs. She continued to sit up, leaning back against the wall, twirling her wedding ring around her finger nervously, nimble fingers moving it rapidly. She loved him so, so much... But would he still love her after what she had decided?

"Well isn't this tragic?" A voice said. Taking off its hood, it's revealed to be Vanitas. "Your hubby is giving in. Relax...I'm not here to fight. I'm here to see what the master's upset about. Now I know. However, you must have noticed that he was a bit...smoky? He was emitting signs of Darkness. It won't be long before he gives in. It's kinda funny actually...he showed signs of light before you dropped that bomb on him."

Vanitas laughed at this. He knew he pissed off Sapphire, but he didn't care. Turning to the window and pointing to one as it blinked out.

"Every world is a star." Vanitas said. "When a star goes out, a world is now gone. Question is...which one?"

Opening a black and purple portal, Vanitas stepped into it and smiled.

"Have fun with that thought Sapphire." Vanitas said laughing.

At that point Niko walked in. He was a bit calmer as he sat down next to Sapphire.

Vanitas's appearance alarmed Sapphire, and she had immediately grow defensive. She felt herself tense as he mentioned Niko turning to Darkness, and she felt herself tense even more when a world went out. She was tempted to race to the window and observe, but she didn't. He was bluffing. He had to be. Bluffing about Niko, bluffing about the star and the world, bluffing about all of it. She convinced herself of this. It had to be a bluff.

She sharply turned her head to face Niko when he came in, caught slightly off guard by his appearance after seeing Vanitas. She relaxed when she saw it was only him, hand falling away from her ring.

"I'm sorry..," she murmured, her voice soft, genuine. "I love you, and I'm sorry."

"It's okay." Niko said. "I got bad news. Mobius's star just went out. Our world went dark."


	10. Into Darkness Part 2

Sapphire's eyes grew wide and she thought back to Vanitas. She suddenly looked very frantic, eyes going to where he had been before they sharply turned back to Niko.

"He... He was here. Vanitas was here. He said it was gone... Oh my God..." She held her head in her hands. "Is... Is it just gone then?" She didn't want to believe it, eyes still wide and full of anxiousness.

"First thing in the morning we'll investigate what happened." Niko said hugging Sapphire. "If it's gone, well...I don't know what to do. We'll figure it out."

She was frozen. As Niko's arms went around her, she did not move. She was rigid. What happened to Garnet, Silver, Gold, and the others? Were they okay? "It can't be gone..," she whispered, in denial, breathing heavily. "It can't be..."

"That's what we're going to look into." Niko said. "If it's gone we can still look for the others. Not to be one of those people, but don't you think it's odd that the minute you decide to join the Insurgents, our world is dragged into darkness?"

It was strange, Sapphire had to admit. What did Vanitas say about Niko succumbing to the Darkness? Was Niko the one who did it? Who knows what he could have done when he left the room. She looked to him, wide-eyed.

"Niko... Did you make Mobius go dark?" she sounded silly asking it, but she had to know. It just made sense.

"No." Niko said. "Why would you ever think I would ever do that?!"

Niko was shocked that Sapphire would ask that. He saw the star go out. He knew what world it was. He was hurt to know Sapphire would even think he was responsible.

"I may have darkness in my heart but I would never use it to harm you or anyone! You know that!"

Sapphire withdrew sharply as if Niko had slapped her, alarmed by his raised voice. She wrapped her arms around her waist, hugging herself, still not completely convinced despite Niko's protests.

"Vanitas said you were giving in to the Darkness, and right after he said that... The star went out." She shook her head. Maybe he did it indirectly? "Are you being completely truthful with me?" she asked, sounding worried and almost afraid.

"i am." Niko said. "You seriously believe I'd do that?! I live there too you know."

Niko was hurt by Sapphire's accusation. He wouldn't ever do what she's saying happened.

I saw what happened" Niko said. breathing gently. "I was shocked too. Vanitas is trying to turn you against me. I hate that you want to rejoin the Insurgents, but I wouldn't turn the world dark to stop you. I love you and if you want to join the Insurgents...I'm not going to stop you. Do what you want."

"Those are some pretty hefty accusations" Sarabi said. "You know Niko wouldn't do anything that would mean you harm. If anything, you should be asking Vanitas. Don't think just because it made sense to you, that it's true."

"Sarabi enough." niko said. "You have every right to assume I did it, Sapphire, but I didn't do it. You gotta believe me. I have nothing to do with it."

Sapphire looked down. She wanted to trust Niko, but she felt as if she couldn't. He was so sure he had nothing to do with the event, so she felt as if she should believe him. However, she would not let her suspicion drift away. No, it merely moved to the back of her mind. She'd have to keep an eye on him.

"Alright," she replied quietly, "I trust you." It was a half lie, half truth. "You said there's still hope for it, right? At least, for the people?"

"If the world went dark, all residents with light in their hearts would have been moved to nearest world unaffected by the darkness." Niko said. "So we need to see the world itself first. If there's darkness there, heartless have flooded the place. We'll need to be careful."

Sapphire stood up from the bed. Though she had been tired only moments ago, she was suddenly reinvigorated. Her face was set and dark, her eyes were narrowed, and it seemed as if all hopes of sleep were gone. "It doesn't matter what's there. We have to go."

"Not so fast eager McBeaver!" Niko said pulling Sapphire gently back down. "Let's not rush into this. Let's get some rest and we'll deal with it in the morning."

Sapphire turned her head rapidly to look at Niko, eyes bewildered. "There's no way I can possibly sleep when I know our friends and family are in danger. When the place I grew up is consumed by darkness." She shook her head at him. "What are they doing right now?" she asked in an afraid whisper, looking at Niko as if he had all of the answers; a hopeful look.

"Sapphire." Niko said. "If you really want to save them, then fine. Let's head out."

Niko was slowly coming down from his anger of being blamed for the problem, now he has to avoid another night of sleep to check on the world. He sighed and whistled and the Gummi Ship teleports them aboard. He then takes off towards the next world; home. Sapphire boarded the ship after Niko. Instead of sitting where she usually sat, in the copilot's seat, she sat further back, arms hugging herself as she stared intently off into space. She was now insanely concerned for the well-being of the Insurgents, and of the state Niko's heart was in after Darkness oozed out of him.

As Niko flew to Mobius, he saw the world was covered in black miasma clouds. Niko looked towards the world and sighs...

"It's still there." Niko said. "Just covered in miasma."

Letting out a sigh of relief, Sapphire quickly got to her feet. "We have to get out there and make sure everyone's okay," she said anxiously, moving quickly toward the exit, not wanting to waste a single second.

"Not a good idea." Niko replied. "There's no life down there. The nearest place filled with light is Radiant Garden. I can take you there so we may search."

Sapphire stopped her footsteps, moving her head to look over her shoulder at Niko. How could he be so calm? "Don't waste any time then; let's go." Her voice was filled with anxiousness and a strong determination lit up her eyes. She had to see that everyone was okay.

"That's odd." Niko said. "They're not on Radiant Garden either. I'm gonna keep scanning for them."

As Niko continued scanning for them, each time no sign of Garnet and the others showed up. Suddenly Niko got a ping and the Gummi Ship began moving independently towards a place neither knew.

"Golly!" Jiminy exclaimed. "We're heading to the Keyblade Graveyard!"

Sapphire looked to Jiminy, her eyes almost wild. "What's that?" she asked. It certainly sounded ominous. Her eyes turned to Niko. "Are they at this graveyard?"

"I wonder why the Gummi Ship is taking us here?" Jiminy asked. "This doesn't feel right to me."

"Yeah." Niko replied. As Niko scanned the area out with his eyes, he didn't feel the hearts and light of the Insurgents. He looked to Sapphire and sighed.

"They're not here." Niko replied. "This is the Keyblade Graveyard. A graveyard of Keyblades wielded by master Keyblade users in a great war known as the Keyblade War. This place is full of evidence that the war happened and ended here. The scars of the landscape, the giant craters and crevices and the Keyblades of the fallen."

Niko looked towards a particular Keyblade and tilted his head. Walking over to it, he studied it carefully. It was silver with a red and purple blade and a rose for the teeth. He picked it up and swung it to test it. It looked as if it was just recently places there.

"Well..." a voice said from a distance. "You showed up. That's very good."

"Xehanort!" Niko said drawing his own Keyblade keeping the one he just picked up tightly in his grasp. "What are you doing here?!"

"Simple." Xehanort replied. "I came to tell you that it was I who corrupted your world. It was a bit too easy to do. I wanted you two to be here when I finish off someone you hold dear! Bring her out Vanitas!"

Vanitas appears and Niko looked up and saw Sally being held by the neck over the ledge Vanitas was standing on. Niko growled in anger, purple miasmic smoke enveloping him. Xehanort was smiling as he nodded to Vanitas. Nodding back, he stabbed Sally through and tossed her off the edge. Saph screamed in horror and Niko roared and rushed to Sally and caught her in his arms.

"Niko..." Sally said wearily, her eyes fading in and out of fog. "I'm sorry for hating you because of who you are. I'm responsible for your darkness. I made you this way."

"No..." Niko said sadly. "Sally please don't go...it's not your fault for any of this. You'll be fine. I know you will."

"No." Sally said taking Niko's hand and planting a kiss on his cheek. "It's too late. Take care of Sonic and the other Freedom Fighters. They need a leader. Goodbye, Niko."

Sally said no more, her eyes fogged over and closed. Niko sat there and sobbed. Standing up, Niko went over to where he found the Keyblade and dug a hole and buried Sally there. Placing the Keyblade over her grave, he turned to Xehanort.

"Your darkness is weak." Xehanort said. "You will instantly change your heart the moment people you care for are hurt. I can fix that. On top of that, I can assure you that no one will ever be hurt again."

"You killed her..." Niko said, summoning two Keyblades. "I'm going to make you pay for that!"

"Oh are you?" Xehanort said. "I'd love to see you try that."

Niko was about to try until he heard Riku shout out for him to stop. He stopped as Riku appeared.

"You two aren't ready to fight Xehanort." Riku replied. "Give them time to train before you fight them, Xehanort."

"Very well." Xehanort said. "I want a challenge."

Niko sighed and looked to Sally's grave. He nodded and teleported himself and Sapphire to the Gummi Ship and walked to the cockpit, completely silent as he took off.


	11. Keeping Me Human

Sapphire had watched on in horror as the whole thing transpired, all from Sally's death to Niko's darkness. As they returned to the Gummi Ship, she found her eyes wide and her arms wrapped around herself. She didn't know Sally well, nor were they fond of each other, but she knew she had meant a lot to Niko. Although her primary concern was still finding the Insurgents and getting back at Xehanort, she pushed those things momentarily out of her mind to take care of Niko. Slowly, she walked over to where he sat in the cockpit, resting a gentle hand on his shoulder.  
"Are you okay?" she asked quietly, softly.  
"No," Niko said. "You still feel like join the Insurgents now? Think long and hard about it. The darkness is coming for everyone we care about. We have to get stronger. Sally may not have meant that much to you, but she was like a sister to me. We can't go to the Insurgents, they'd be in too much danger. I am not risking it."  
Niko began to calm down as he noticed the next world approaching. It was the Pride Lands. Niko remembered that they had not checked on Kovu and Kiara. He looked to Sapphire and sighed.  
"Sapphire I'm sorry," Niko said. "I can't run from my darkness and it will never stop causing pain. I love you and I can't put you through my messes. I am glad you're my wife...I couldn't bear another day without you in it. But I now know that I have to take some of this quest alone. I'll go down to the Pride Lands and check on Kovu and Kiara alone."  
The way Niko said those words didn't sound very confident or assuring. Sarabi looked towards Sapphire and shook her head.  
"You better follow him!" Sarabi said. "He's hopeless without you."  
Sapphire knew Niko was right. They would be thrust into danger if they went to them, and she didn't want the Insurgents to be harmed. No, she wouldn't seek them out now, but once this was over... She would. She'd find them and make sure they were okay, and she'd join them. But for now, she couldn't put them in harm's way.  
She stood silently for a moment in the ship, twisting her wedding ring around her finger, eyes glued to a spot on the floor as she contemplated. Even if Sarabi hadn't said anything she would have followed Niko. She raised her head and let her fingers fall away from her ring. "You know I can't let you go alone," she replied softly, roughly, eyes narrowed.  
Niko ran towards the Pride Lands and sees Kovu leaving. Niko tilted his head and sighs sadly. He had a funny feeling about what happened. He ran after Kovu, knowing Kovu was going to be overwhelmed with darkness.  
"Kovu!" Niko called. Kovu stopped and looked to him.  
"Niko?" Kovu asked. "What are you doing here? Where's Sapphire?"  
"I had to get away." Niko lied. It was a half-truth as Niko ran away from Sapphire. "My darkness was causing me some...problems. What about you?"  
"I was exiled from the Pride Lands," Kovu replied. "Because of my resemblance to Scar. Huh...like father like son right?"  
Niko sighed heavily and smiled.  
"Aren't you a little ashamed that you left Kiara?" Niko asked.  
"I should be asking you the same thing," Kovu replied. "We've both got darkness in us. So why did we leave the people who have been there for us amidst the darkness? The ones who gave us a dawn worth going to. Who are we without them?"  
"We're just ghosts..." Niko said. "Ghosts that have nothing to live for in the world."  
Just then Kiara ran up to them. She was covered in tears from when she was crying prior to looking for Kovu. Kovu looked to Niko.  
"Go to her," Niko said. "She needs you...and...you need her."  
Niko watched Kiara and Kovu, happily reunited. They loved each other and it made him sigh happily. He remembered the happiness and joy Sapphire gave him. He began to sob a bit. What had he done? Sapphire loved him with all his heart and he had the balls to abandon her. He hoped she would still love him after what he did but was not expecting so. He looked into the distance and saw Vanitas.  
"Aww did little Niko get a boo boo?" Vanitas asked. "A wielder of Darkness and Light and you're crying like a baby. Pathetic."  
"Shut up!" Niko said summoning his Keyblade. "You shouldn't even exist! You or Xehanort!"  
"Big talk from an Ichuriki," Vanitas said laughing. "Enough talk. Let's dance! I'll lead!"  
With that the two began to clash, Keyblades creating sparks in the air.


	12. Love Will Find A Way

Sapphire sighed heavily as Niko ran off. Her eyes were tired, dark circles underneath them. She got comfortable on the ship, her head in her hands. She knew she had her flaws, but Niko had a real knack for just running off and leaving her, avoiding problems by just running from them. She shut her eyes, feeling for her wedding band, anxiously twisting it around her finger before tilting her head up and getting a cigarette. She smoked for a bit, but it just wasn't doing the trick. It wasn't strong enough. She frowned and let it drop to the floor, crushing it under her shoe. Maybe she'd be able to get ahold of some liquor because if things kept going like this, with Niko's darkness and his anger and his running, she'd need something to fill the void.  
She stood up from her seat and started pacing slowly. She couldn't just sit around and mope. The Insurgents were still out there. She had to think of some way to get to them. As Sapphire was composing a way to the Insurgents, she felt a pulse of energy. When it subsided, she saw she was in the Pride lands next to Kovu and Kiara who were watching Niko and Vanitas fight.  
"Sapphire?" Kovu said in surprise. "When did you get here?"  
"Just now," Kiara replied.  
"Someone must have unconsciously brought you here," Sarabi said in thought. "The question is who and why?"  
Sapphire blinked at her new environment but did not ponder it long. Too much weird shit had happened for this event to be strange.  
She frowned and thought back to how Niko had reached out to her for help when first calling Herato. He had contacted her for help, and his abilities had only gotten stronger since then, so that had to be it  
Her eyes became set, and her Keyblade appeared in her hand. Niko was in danger. "Which way did Niko go?"  
Both Kiara and Kovu pointed to the fight happening behind her. Sapphire ran to the fight, Keyblade tight in her grip. "Vanitas, you need to leave us the fuck alone!" she snarled, her anger roused. She jumped into the fight without a second thought, knowing she needed to help Niko. Vanitas quickly moved out the way and laughed. Niko looked to Sapphire and sighed.  
"I guess it can't be helped," Niko said smiling. "Let's do this."  
Niko charged at Vanitas and jumped into the air quickly firing a blast of the wind at Sapphire. The wind turns into a barrier. Doing the same to himself he landed on the ground.  
"You are one stupid and reckless bitch," Vanitas said. "No matter. This shit will end with your death anyway. Stay tuned!"  
Vanitas disappeared into a cloud of darkness. Niko looked to Sapphire and hugged sobbing. Sarabi was surprised at first but she smiled.  
"I'm so sorry, Sapphire," Niko said through his tears. "I shouldn't have run away from you. I was too scared to endanger you."


	13. Ray Of Hope

Saph and Sarabi smiled and looked to Kovu and Kiara. The two were looking into the distance as rain began to fall.  
"You two should go stop your families from killing each other." Niko said. "We'll help you out."  
Sapphire nodded as she pulled away from Niko, face looking worn, though her eyes were bright. "Right, we'll help."  
Kovu and Kiara nod and run towards the Pride Lands. Niko looked to Sapphire and nodded.  
"Before we go, I want to tell you something, Sapphire." Niko said. "It's hard for me to do it, but this is what I discovered on the way to the Pride Lands. I discovered that the Insurgents aren't on any sanctuary of light...they're in the World That Never Was, a land of pure darkness. I can get you there and we can rescue them. But we better solve the problems of darkness while we're heading there. The place is blocked off by Keyholes that are unlocked the more darkness we expel. We have one more after this. I hope you're ready."  
While the tiredness on Sapphire's face was still evident, it seems to clear slightly, like dust. "Whatever it takes to find them, to make sure they're okay." She meant those words. These were the people she grew up with, the people that helped create her path and mold the person she had become.  
"Let's get going," she told Niko, not wanting to waste a second.  
While the tiredness on Sapphire's face was still evident, it seems to clear slightly, like dust. "Whatever it takes to find them, to make sure they're okay." She meant those words. These were the people she grew up with, the people that helped create her path and mold the person she had become.  
Niko followed Sapphire sighing heavily. He had to admit he didn't like the Insurgents and their actions. They were too extreme and militaristic. But what he hated about them was made up for in spades for the fact that they kept Sapphire on the straight and narrow. She may have been filled with Darkness, but at least she was good. He could live with that at least. As Niko and Sapphire caught with Kovu and Kiara, he noticed an army of Heartless. Summoning his Keyblade, Niko looked around to count them out.  
"1...2...1,000?!" Niko shouted. "Oh come on!"  
"That's not fair!" Saph said.  
"Well, we may be outnumbered," Sarabi said.  
"But they're outmatched!" Niko said looking at Sapphire.  
"Wait up!" Jiminy said. "You two just earned enough strength to use a special bracelet! The Combo Bangle!"  
"The combo bangle?" Sarabi said.  
"The Combo Bangle is a special bracelet that allows Niko and Sapphire to put their powers together to unleash powerful attacks," Jiminy said smiling.  
"That sounds cool!" Niko said. How does it work?"  
"Use your imaginations!" Jiminy replied. "Combine your powers in any order and the result will be immediate!"  
"Okay!" Niko said looking at Sapphire again. "Let's try your guns and my magic."  
Sapphire nodded. The number of Heartless was staggering, so if this could help them eliminate their numbers, she'd do it. She pulled her guns from her sides, observing the bangle on her wrist for a moment. She raised the guns and aimed them at the onslaught. "Let's try this out, Niko."  
"OKAY!" Niko said as he charged up the magic. It was gravity magic and as it glowed in his hand, he looked to Sapphire and nodded. "Go!"  
As soon as Sapphire was given confirmation from Niko, she began to fire, unloading bullets into the waves of Heartless. She watched as Niko's magic began to merge with her bullets, curious of the outcome.  
The bullets effect was immediate, carrying a lot of Heartless into the air destroying them. Niko smiled and looked to Sapphire.  
"I have an idea!" Niko said. "Hand me your Keyblade."  
Sapphire didn't waste a second; she trusted Niko. She holstered her guns, gripped her Keyblade, and tossed it over to Niko.  
Niko combined both Keyblades together to create a more powerful one. He extended his hand to Sapphire.  
"Let's take him out together" Niko said. "Place your hand on the hilt"  
Sapphire watched in awe as Niko put his plan into action and as the larger, stronger Keyblade was formed. "Right!" she exclaimed, stepping forward and grabbing hold of the hilt tightly. The Keyblade's tip glowed a brilliant white and blue as it fired a burst of magic killing the remaining heartless. The Keyblades separated, Sapphire's returning to her. Niko smiled at the results.  
"That takes care of that!" Niko said happily. "Let's go meet up with Kovu and Kiara."  
Niko ran off towards the quarry where Kovu and Kiara were. They would have to hurry if they were to stop Zira. Sapphire smiled back and gripped her Keyblade before throwing it back onto her back. She ran behind Niko, keeping up with him as they caught back up to Kovu and Kiara.  
"So, what's next?" Sapphire asked.  
Kovu and Kiara walked up to the pair and smiled. Simba was standing alongside Naka as they watched Niko and Sapphire.  
"Thanks, Niko and Sapphire." Kovu said "You have shown me that darkness is not good nor bad. It can be used for the right thing and it doesn't have to define who I am. Scar is a part of my heritage but I don't have to live by his standards. I can be darkness and still serve the light. Thank you both."  
Sapphire nodded at Kovu's words. She supposed he was right. His heritage was very similar to her own, now that she thought about it. The Director, her father, was a wicked man, and for some time, she let that define who she was. She felt compelled to be as he wanted her to be, to succumb to that darkness. But she learned that she did not have to, that she should do what it was that she felt was right, and what was right was fighting for good. While her past was paved by darkness, her future was paved in light. With this revelation, she felt more compelled than ever to rejoin the Insurgents.  
"Of course," she told Kovu. "We're glad we could help."  
Kiara smiled gently and looked to Niko. Niko was silent through everything that was said, mind running through what Vanitas said about him. Niko looked to everyone and nodded as the Keyhole appeared. Niko sealed it without looking and looked to Sapphire and nodded.  
"So? You have to go?" Timon asked.  
"Yeah," Niko said. "We need to find some friends of Sapphire's before they fall into eternal darkness."  
"Oh," Kiara said. "Well don't be a stranger you two. Come back sometime and visit us. Maybe even bring your friends with you."  
"Okay!" Jiminy said smiling. "Well come on you two!"  
Suddenly a Keychain appears in front of Niko. Niko picked up the keychain and studied it carefully.


	14. Rage Awakened

Niko didn't even give Sapphire a chance to respond. She settled into the back of the ship, hugging her knees to her chest. They couldn't be Heartless. She wouldn't believe it. The people she grew up with, the people she loved, her friends... She would rather herself die than them. She would take a bullet for any one of them any day. She couldn't let Niko kill them. She would rather herself than them.

She looked upwards as Niko spoke. She got to her feet and hurried up to the cockpit, eyes dark with worry. "They can't be overcome with darkness... They can't be..," she murmured to herself, her eyes downcast, her chest hurting. "We have to find them." Without waiting, she quickly got off the ship. She had to find them.

"If anything," Sarabi said. "We could find them...in any state. You've got to accept what you see. I have seen some weird shit like you have. This can't be any worse than what we've been through already!"

Yes, it could be, Sapphire thought, but she kept her mouth shut. They wouldn't understand. She'd be wasting her breath.

"Come on, Niko," she called anxiously back into the ship, hand resting on her holster, her steps forward slow.

Niko was already ahead of her looking around. He knew this could be dangerous but he also knew this was likely the only chance that they would have at finding them. When Niko walked into a new are he saw a group of Heartless. Closing his eyes, he tried to find out if they were the Insurgents. His heart sank, when he discovered that the Heartless in front of him were the Insurgents. The Heartless merged together and created a bigger Heartless.

"Oh no!" Saph shouted. "Sapphire isn't going to like this."

"No chizz," Niko said sighing heavily. He turned to see Sapphire approaching and he turned to her.

"That's them...that huge hulking monster?" Sarabi asked.

"Yeah." Niko said. "But we can save them...it's a complicated thing to share...but we have to defeat them...once defeated, our Keyblades can free them from the darkness that consumed them. It will...well...it's gonna create their Nobodies, but it will bring them back. We'll just have to find them again."

"That makes...little to no sense." Sarabi said angrily.  
"I get it!" Saph shouted. "In order to save them we have to defeat them. When we do, they'll be reborn into new entities that will be in another sanctuary of light."  
"Exactly!" Niko nodded. "So...knowing they will be okay once you defeat them, can you help me?"

Saph may have understood, but Sapphire did not. As soon as it was revealed that those were her Insurgents, she felt the response of flight overwhelm her. She wanted to leave again, to run, to not face her problems, to not hurt those she cared about, whether they were corrupted or not. Maybe when she was younger fighting them would have been easier, but she had gotten soft, and now she couldn't bare the thought of hurting them, Heartless or not.

And who was to say she could trust Niko's words? He didn't like the Insurgents, and he was still on her radar since Mobius went dark as soon as the darkness in his heart grew, and he'd already been talking about killing the Insurgents. Sapphire's mind was cluttered with thoughts, and she found herself putting her gun back into its holster and taking a step back, her eyes wide.

"I... I..," she started, but she could not form words. She wanted them back, but... Could she hurt them?

The Heartless Insurgents rushed at them. Niko saw Sapphire's hesitation and blocked their assault. Niko holds them off, getting tackled almost immediately. Saph looked to Sapphire and growled.

"So you're going to let him die?" Saph said angrily. "He's doing this because he respects them. He's doing what you are too scared to do! He's your husband and you're his wife. Why are you doing this?"

"If you don't help him, they'll kill him." Sarabi said.

"By all means Sapphire," a voice shouted. "Be afraid."

It was Xehanort. He smiled with glee as he laughed at Sapphire's fear.

"I turned them into Heartless, knowing you would be hesitant to stop them. Why not get rid of the one person keeping you bathed in the light to drown you in darkness."

"Sapphire!" Niko shouted in pain. "Help!"

"She can't help you." Xehanort said laughing. "She'd have to kill her friends first."

Xehanort summoned his Keyblade and walked to Niko. He looked to Sapphire and smiled.

"You have a choice, Sapphire," Xehanort said. "Defeat your friends or lose your husband."

Sapphire took another step backward, her wide eyes moving back and forth between the Heartless, Niko, and Xehanort. She loved Niko, but she also loved her friends. She expected herself to be overwhelmed with sadness or confusion, but a surprising emotion suddenly filled her:

Anger.

Sapphire was pissed. Why did she have to make this choice? Why did the people she love always have to get hurt? Why couldn't she just be left alone? As her anger grew, she suddenly found herself changing; her claws lengthened, her arms tore through her clothing, and scales began to form upon her skin. Her back arched forward as a scream ripped through her body, pain shooting through her as she changed into her demonic form. Her Keyblade fell from her back, and she panted from her hunched over figure on the ground, only to look up with black eyes at the scene, snarling, sharp teeth showing. Her mind was suddenly cluttered with the raw emotion of anger, and she was ready to take it out.

She stood up slowly, her figure hulking, her hands raised. She fired off shots of sparking black and blue Psi Energy at the Heartless form before running and charging at Xehanort, going to tackle him, knowing in her irrationality that he needed to be stopped.

Xehanort laughed triumphantly as he looked to Sapphire. He had gotten what he wanted out of her. Summoning more Heartless, Xehanort took the tackle.

"Yes! Your darkness has come forth!" Xehanort triumphantly. "However, I can't be defeated like that. I'm a pure user of darkness myself. Do you see now, Niko? This is what your wife can become! This is who she is on the inside!"

Niko was scared of what Sapphire had become but he knew deep down, she was still in there. Standing up and walking towards Sapphire, Saph and Sarabi by his side. Walking up to her, he saw Heartless trying to stop him. Suddenly, he uttered the words "stop" and the Heartless stopped in place. Finally approaching, he took Sapphire's hand and closed his eyes.

The Heartless tilt their heads and disappeared as Niko began to show Sapphire where the Insurgents went.

"We can awaken them now." Niko said. "Please stop. I know you're angry and hurt, but if I don't stop you, it would be the same as me doing all the killing. Please Sapphire please don't do this. We can defeat him, but not like this! SAPPHIRE!"

Niko's pleas began to turn into a burst of light as Xehanort is knocked away. Niko, Saph, and Sarabi hugged Sapphire enveloping her in light.

There was a very small part of Sapphire that was holding onto her light, and it was the only thing keeping her from pouncing on Niko. The words he spoke didn't make sense to her rage filled mind, and as he approached and took her hand with Sarabi and Saph at his side, she snarled at him and sunk her claws into his hand, trying to make him stop. She didn't even notice the Heartless vanishing or Xehanort getting knocked away. When Niko created that light, though, she threw her head back and hissed, trying to back away from it, the darkness in her wanting to stay far away from it. As she was hugged, her demonic form writhed and shook, foaming at the mouth, claws swinging wildly as it was blinded by the light, trying to escape it. However, the attempts to escape grew less violent until they were nonexistent, the demon finally understanding that it could not beat this light. Slowly, the hulking, scaly figure shrunk back down to size, scales sinking into her skin and eyes turning a sapphire blue once more.

When the light cleared, Sapphire was back. She appeared to be weary, her eyes halfway shut, her breaths slow and quiet.

Xehanort watched from a distance. He knew what Sapphire was capable of and all he needed now was to get it out of her. Walking through a portal he smiled, knowing what he had to do.

Niko hugged Sapphire and sobbed gently, falling to his knees. He almost lost Sapphire to the darkness. However, the damage he acquired in battle took over as he passed out, laying unconscious on the ground.

"Let's get Niko back to the Gummi Ship!" Jiminy piped up.

"Yeah!" Saph added.

"What the insect said." Sarabi stated.

Sapphire was weak, and tired. She looked down at him as he fell, wanting to fall, too. Anger lingered in her mind and she found herself still realizing what it was she had just done, what she had become. "Yeah... The ship..," she murmured quietly, slowly bending down to take Niko in her arms. She looked at him sadly, at the claw marks on his hand, the reality of what she had done finally setting in. Her eyes darkened, and her face suddenly dropped.

"I'm so sorry," she whispered, standing back up, not being able to bring herself to look at him. She started for the ship, carefully picking up her Keyblade on the way and throwing it on her back haphazardly with Niko in her arms. She didn't deserve the blade, but she didn't want anyone else getting their hands on it.

"It's not your fault." Niko muttered, as if responding to Sapphire's apologies. "Jiminy set a course for the Land of Dragons."

"Why there?" Jiminy replied.

"They're bodies were scattered. We'll have to find them individually. We'll start with the guy that I had the most beef with. We'll start with Garnet."

Jiminy set a course for the Land of Dragons and Niko looked at Sapphire and gave his usually dopey grin. Even though they're going through was seemed like hell, Niko managed to stay positive throughout. One would have to admire that. He would have something on Garnet that he would always keep. He can say he was able to keep Sapphire on the straight and narrow and nothing stupid.

"Plus there's a princess we gotta protect," Niko said. "Fa Mulan."

Sapphire gently put Niko down before going to sit on the floor of the ship, hugging her knees to her chest. She eyed Niko's clawed up hand again before looking up at him, her eyes dark with concern and fear. "Did I hurt them?" she asked quietly. "Did I hurt you?" She knew the answer, of course, but she needed to hear it, to know for sure that that beast was her.

"Oh this?" Niko asked. "I've been through worse, you know? It's nothing new. It did hurt, to be honest. I know you weren't trying to do it on purpose. You weren't thinking straight and the darkness was taking advantage of that. You didn't notice that I told the Heartless to stop attacking you and leave? We all have a little darkness in us. Xehanort knew how to trigger yours. I wonder how though."

Niko sat next to Sapphire and sighed heavily.

"If you keep moping around like that, we can't move the Gummi Ship very far. Everyone else is smiling and we need all smiles about the Gummi Ship to get it moving fast enough to find Garnet."

Smiles. How was Sapphire supposed to smile after what she had just done? If she caused that much negative effect on the ship, maybe they should just leave without her. She thought about bringing it up, but she knew she had to find Garnet and the others. They meant the world to her, and she couldn't just turn her back on them.

"I'm sorry," she murmured, hugging her knees tighter to her chest, resting her chin on her knees. She couldn't smile. Not after what she had just done.


	15. Fields of Honor

"Don't worry about it." Niko said as they arrived at the Land of Dragons. Niko stepped out of the ship and looked around. He saw a girl crying. Looking at Sapphire and then the girl he noticed something. They were both sad. He hated when people were sad. So he walked over to the girl and sat next to her. Jiminy noticed he right away.

"Mulan?" Jiminy asked. "Are you alright?"

"Jiminy?" Mulan asked. "No. I'm not. It appears that those monsters that Sora defeated are back and they've captured Shang. I've tried to save him, but it's no good."

"Oh no!" Saph said. "That's terrible!"

"Don't worry Mulan," Jiminy replied. "Niko and Sapphire will find him!"

"Wait...you're Niko?" Mulan asked looking to Niko. "Someone in a black hood said you and Sapphire were coming."

"That must have been Garnet...or at least what little Xehanort let him keep." Sarabi grumbled. "We better find him."

"Sapphire!" Saph called out. "We might have found Garnet!"

At the mention of Garnet, Sapphire perked up. He was alive, and he was here. He'd be able to help her reconcile. She could mope and consider her actions later; she needed to find her friend.

She got to her feet and headed off the ship, eyes finding the crying princess. She found that she could not care for her. Not yet, at least. She needed to find Garnet.

"Where is he?" she asked, looking back and forth between Niko and the princess.

Mulan could see how eager Sapphire was and giggled.

"I last saw him at the military camp," Mulan said. "I suggest looking there. Please take this with you as it could be of use to you."

Mulan handed them another Keychain. Niko attached it to his Keyblade and his Keyblade changed form, turning into a shorter, orange and red Keyblade. As Niko and Sapphire walked into the military camp, he felt a familiar presence. Turning to Sapphire, he sighed.

"Now about Garnet," Niko said, holding his wife's hand. "He may not remember much about how he got here. wait. .I sense two Insurgents."

"Wait no three," Sarabi added. "Garnet and two others."

"What do you know?" Niko asked. "We found three out of the five that went missing."

Sapphire grew anxious as they arrived at the military camp. She jumped a little when Niko took her hand, but she looks at him earnestly. She was concerned with the state of her friends, and finding out more were there increased her nervousness. She nodded at him, but before she could do anything else, she heard something.

"Sapphire?" a familiar voice asked. The cat turned her head to find Garnet, Silver, and Gold, all in black robes, wide eyed at the appearance of what they thought was their long lost leader. She let go of Niko's hand before running over to Garnet and throwing her arms around him, Silver and Gold looking on with sad smiles.

"You're alive," she whispered, her voice shaking, gripping Garnet tightly as he returned the hug.

"I'm so glad you are all okay," Niko said. "Sapphire was worried to an unhealthy degree. Now that you guys are back to normal, we should get you guys back to the Gummi Ship before s* hits the fan."

No sooner did Niko say that before a group of monsters appear. They weren't Heartless because they didn't have the same sigil. Niko summoned his Keyblade much to Garnet, Silver and Gold's surprise. He looked back to everyone's surprise as Niko's Keyblade was different now. It was white and blue and light yellow in an odd design. He knew he surprised everyone and he smiled playfully.

"I've been taking advantage of the Keychains we found," Niko said smiling. "Time to put Oathkeeper to use! Sapphire get them out of here and rendezvous with me right here. I'm only buying you time to get them out of here."

Niko charged at the new monsters. He knew this was gonna be a tough fight, but he had to persevere! For Sapphire...Garnet...Gold and Silver. He had to stay strong and fight everyone! As he thought this, he began to glow and his clothes changed color. They were now blue with blue streaks that looked like magic bolts. He felt lighter as he began to float around as if he was on a hoverboard.

Unable to use his Keyblade for a physical attack to a reasonable degree, he fired a bolt of lightning at the monsters destroying them. Niko looked at the rest and smiled evilly. He was gonna enjoy this.

"Time to kill some monsters, nerds!" Niko shouted as he began zipping around the monsters hitting them with enhanced magical power and firing blasts of energy out of the tip of the Keyblade.

"Get bent!!! WHOOOOO!!" Niko shouted out loud. He was having too much of a good time it almost felt like cheating. Niko didn't exactly give two fucks as he went at it.


	16. The Return

Sapphire didn't have to be told twice. For the time being, the most important thing to her was making sure that her friends were okay. She knew Niko could handle himself. She pulled away from Garnet and made a quick gesture with her hand, and the four took off, running away from the horde of Heartless. Just in case anything caught up to them, she pulled her Keyblade from her back.

She stopped when they were a safe distance away from the scene, and she quickly checked out the Insurgents to make sure they were okay, and they thankfully were.

After a while, Niko became surrounded by more and more of the creatures, eventually being completely overtaken. Before they could finish him, a black portal opened and Vanitas walked out. He dismissed them and smiled.

"I think you've had enough." Vanitas chuckled as he left back through the portal. "Give Sapphire my regards. I can't wait to finally kill her."

With an eerie cackle, he was gone. Before he could do anything, Niko felt fatigue wash over him as he passed out.

"Uh Sapphire?" Jiminy asked. "I like reunions as much as the next cricket, but Niko is still out there. Shouldn't you go look for him?"

Sapphire looked over at Jiminy after checking out her Insurgents for injuries. She furrowed her brow. Niko had always been strong, and it seemed as if he'd been displaying extraordinary powers, even for someone like him. She had been sure he would be fine, but with Jiminy's words came worry.

"Right," she murmured. She looked to the others, "Stay here. I'll be right back." She started in the direction they had come, first at a walk, then a jog, then a full out run as worry continued to set in. She arrived on the scene just as the portal vanished, eyes finding Niko a moment later. She sucked in a breath before running to him, leaning down next to him and placing glowing green hands on his chest, going to heal him.

"Niko, can you hear me?" she asked, her eyes wide and frantic.

Niko jumped up and looked around frantically. He saw Vanitas and barely heard a word he said. Niko rubbed his eyes. He looked as if he had been sleeping and he had. He yawned and looked to Sapphire.

"Oh hey honey, " Niko said yawning. "I was overtaken by those monsters and pure fatigue kicked in and I fell asleep."

"You really worried us!" Sarabi grumbled. "Wait what happened to your clothes?"

"Huh?" Niko asked before looking at them. "Oh this? Well, I think I remember it being called a...ummm...Drive Form. I read about it in Jiminy's journal. Though I don't know how I managed to do it when Sora was the only known person who could. I look pretty cool though huh?"

"You look awesome!" Saph said shouting "What do you think, Sapphire?"

Sapphire scrambled away from Niko when he suddenly got to his feet, starting her. She relaxed, however, when he spoke. Good; he was okay. "You scared me," she murmured before leaning in to give him a gentle kiss on the cheek. She looked down at his clothes as they were mentioned, and it turned out that they were different. She looked back up at her husband, "They suit you." She smiled at him, her worry flowing away.

"We should get back to the Insurgents to see what they know," she said a moment later, threading her fingers between Niko's.

"Right," Niko said. Upon standing up, Niko's clothes reverted to normal. "Wish that had lasted longer."

"It looked pretty cool," Saph said. "Right Sarabi?"

"Yeah," Sarabi replied. "It was pretty amusing."

Everyone walked back to the Insurgents and Niko looked to Garnet. He was injured, but otherwise fine. He smiled cheekily and sat next to him.

"So," Niko said. "You seem to owe me one, Garnet. I just saved you, Gold, and Silver so you owe me. You can pay off the debt by telling Sapphire and me what you know."

"Niko is enjoying this," Saph said.

"I hear ya on that," Jiminy said.

Silver scowled at Niko's appearance, and she opened her mouth to say something, but was stopped when Gold rested a hand on her shoulder. She was fuming, but before she could say something, Garnet was speaking, his eyes narrowed at Niko.

Garnet figured they would've been fine, even if Niko hadn't showed up, but there was nothing he could do about it. "I don't know much," he told him begrudgingly, narrowing his eyes at Niko. "We were at the base when everything just went... Dark. Next thing we knew, we were here. I don't remember anything else that happened. How I got here, how I got what I'm wearing, or anything."

So much for gloating Niko thought. He could feel Silver's icy stare and sighed and walked to Sapphire. He knew that she would want to know.

"Garnet says he doesn't know what happened," Niko said. "That's normal and a good thing. However, we need to find a place where they can be safe until our world is repaired. I think I know a place, but first we need to find Shang. Leave that to me."

"Why not take Garnet with you?" Saph asked. "You could always use the back up."

"As much as I hate to admit it," Sarabi said. "She has a point. You can't go alone and Sapphire should stay here to make sure Gold and Silver are okay. She's already done checking out Garnet so take him with you."

"I'll take Garnet with me," Niko said. "Only because I need to explain to him what happened. Sapphire explain the situation to Gold and Silver. Garnet could you come with me? I could use the back up."

Garnet was silent for a moment at the suggestion. He didn't want to be with Niko. In a way, he believed that Niko had taken his Sapphire away from him and changed her, and that was not something he was happy about. However, he wasn't about to fight about something so petty. If he could help, he would help.

"Yeah, sure," he told Niko, standing up and stretching out a little, letting the black cloak fall from him, covered in his usual clothing. Before he could move, Sapphire had taken a gun and pushed it against his chest. He looked at her, and a smile was exchanged before he took the gun.

"Alright, sounds like a plan. I'll make sure Gold and Silver are caught up to speed." She looked at Garnet and Niko. "Be safe, you two."

"No worries," Niko said. He walked away with Garnet in tow and sighs heavily. He knew Garnet hated him but he had to stick with him to explain the situation.

"You think he'll be fine Sarabi?" Saph asked.

"Yeah, he will be," Sarabi replied.

"Garnet," Niko said. "I know you hate me. I hate you too...but we can't keep this up...eventually we're gonna have to work together."

Just then, Heartless appear and surround Niko and Garnet. Summoning his Keyblade, he looked around.

"Well ain't this a bitch!" Niko shouted. "What say we put our differences aside and take these guys?"

Sapphire began telling Gold and Silver of the situation as Garnet and Niko walked away. His talk of making up made him sick, but when the Heartless appeared, he knew they'd have to work together.

"Let's do it," Garnet replied, raising Sapphire's gun. "What the hell are these things anyway?" he asked as he began aiming and shooting at the black masses.

"They're known as the Heartless." Niko said. "Being that have no hearts and have changed shape. They seek those with hearts and attempt to take their hearts. They are dangerous but just about anyone can take them down. However, the Keyblade is the one weapon that can stop them for good."

Niko began to glow yellow and his clothes turned yellow with a knights crest on the pants and sleeves. Niko looked at his clothes and summoned another Keyblade.

"Oh hell yeah!" Niko shouted. "I'll call this form Victory! Let's squash some Heartless, Nerd!!"

Niko started slashing at heartless with one Keyblade and casting magic with the other."

Garnet rolled his eyes at Niko's exclamations before focusing on taking down the Heartless. If a gun couldn't kill them, he could at least knock them down and give Niko some time to take care of the batch he was dealing with. He eyed his Keyblade in between shots, finding himself to be jealous. Why did Niko get one and not him? Eh, whatever. He had more important things to worry about. He shot at the Heartless, knocking them down, his aim true every time.

Niko took careful aim not to hit Garnet as he ran around slashing Heartless and hitting others with Magic. The ones that Garnet stunned he hit with magic and he slashed others by himself. Upon destroying them all a clap was heard.

"I gotta admit," the hooded figure said. "You two put on quite the show. Hold on...how rude of me. I never introduced myself. My name is Braig. Turns out you and I are cut almost from the same cloth...Garnet."

"How do you know his name?" Niko shouted.

"I'm the one who brought him and his friends here," Braig replied. "On top of that, I was asked by Xehanort to mask those Heartless you fought in their essence hoping to throw you and Sapphire off. Boy did it work. She showed her darkness just as the old man assumed she would. But one thing still bugs him...how did you snap her out of it? Could have been love, you are married after all. So we figured you would come here and placed Garnet nearby. That Shang guy you're looking for? Emperor's palace fine and dandy. I would hurry along though. It was easy to find these three, Xehanort isn't gonna make finding the others easy."

With that he disappeared into a dark corridor. Niko reverted back to normal and looked to Garnet. He had sensed Garnet's jealousy and he needed to address it.

"You're jealous aren't you?" Niko began. "You wish the Keyblade was in your hands and not mine, huh? You wish that it was you who married Sapphire and not me. You feel I am trying to change Sapphire. Well guess what? I'm not. It has been hard to get her to accept what she's sees, so I just gave up. This Keyblade isn't a toy! It can literally either save or end a world! This is a gift and a curse! I didn't want this...I was destined to take it. Sapphire and I were chosen to take the Keyblade because we were the best at what we do. We didn't have a choice. So you can be all you want, but remember Sapphire and I are carrying a heavy burden! If we don't stop Xehanort, he will plunge everything we know and love into darkness! So your jealousy is noted and unnecessary."

"Well that about sums it up" Jiminy said. "As much as I can understand anyway. Garnet you have no reason. You may hate him, but Niko really cares about you. I mean once this is all over, Sapphire is rejoining the Insurgents and he is accepting of that. He hated the idea but he accepts it. Niko has a Keyblade and you don't. He married Sapphire and you didn't. Why don't you spend less time in jealousy and more time in acceptance?"

Most of what Braig said, Garnet ignored, except for the finding of the other Insurgents. That was important to him.

His shoved the gun into his waistband as Niko went on about his jealously and the Keyblade. He didn't care about what he had to say, but when the cricket mentioned Sapphire coming back to the Insurgents, his eyes snapped over to him. Did she really want to come back to them? Come back to him? He was sure she would've told him later, but knowing it filled him with joy.

Then, the cricket's other words caught his attention. He scowled. He was usually good at keeping his cool, but not this time. Not when it came to Sapphire. His eyes snapped over to Niko, anger evident in his expression. "I want her to be happy, and if you make her happy, fine. But I love her. I love her, and you took her away from me." His words were a snarl. He turned his back to him and started down to the palace. They had a villain to face, and he was more worried about that than arguing with Niko.

Niko laughed before following Garnet. He knew eventually darkness was gonna take over Garnet and he would have to take him down. He wasn't gong to hold back either. As they approached the palace, Niko saw that Braig wasn't lying, Shang was fine. He was in the embrace of Mulan. Niko smiled and looked to Garnet.

"He's fine," Niko said. "Let's get out of here."

"The sooner the better," Jiminy replied. "Garnet...you really do have every right to be jealous. I was jealous of you once...how good a team you and Sapphire made. I have to admit...I always thought that we would break and she would marry you. I guess that's what caused me to propose to her. I knew I wanted her in my life...more than I realized. It was a rushed decision I don't regret yet. Nor do I think I will. I am sorry if you think I took her from you. I didn't mean to..."

As Niko and Garnet were talking, monsters appear. Jiminy shouted aloud and Niko looked to Jiminy pointing to the monsters. Summoning his Keyblade, Niko looked at them and sighed.

"Oh no," Niko said. "Unversed...why am I not surprised? They sensed your jealousy Garnet."

Garnet didn't have time to process what it was that he was saying. Something about him and Sapphire, he didn't know, and he didn't care. He jumped at the appearance of the new monsters, but quickly recovered, pulling out his gun. He scowled at Niko's word. "Excuse the hell out of me," he replied sharply. It wasn't like he wanted to cause the monsters, but he couldn't be told to just not be jealous. He pulled his gun out and began firing at the monsters, unsure of what to expect from them.

"The Unversed are emotions given physical form," Niko said simply "Jealousy, anger, hatred...all of those negative are what attract them. It's not your fault. We can take them out together. Let's get going! Wisdom!"

Niko began to glow blue as he went into his Wisdom Drive Form. He looked to Garnet and handed him his Keyblade.

"In your have take this Key," Niko said "And as so long as you have the making then, through this simple act of taking, its wielder you shall one day be."

Garnet put the gun up and took the Keyblade without second thought. Whatever he could use to kill these monsters. It was lighter than he expected it to be. He hadn't much practice using blades, but he found using the Keyblade to be fairly easy. He swung at the Unversed, slashing at them and making them no more.

Niko smiled and summoned another Keyblade, proceeding to fire bolts of magic from it at the Unversed. Together, Niko and Garnet were able to vanquish the Unversed, and thoughts of jealousy left Garnet's mind as he fought, finding himself too busy to think of that. He took a moment to look down at the Keyblade, and he decided he could get used to fighting with something like it.

Niko looked around and saw they were gone. Dispelling his Keyblade and reverting back to normal, Niko looked at Garnet and nodded. He has a real knack for using a Keyblade he thought. Perhaps this was a fateful event. Niko looked at the Gummi Ship and walked to it.

"Let's get out of here," Niko said. "We can get you, Gold, and Silver someplace safe."

Before walking over to the ship, Garnet extended the Keyblade in Niko's direction. "Thanks," he replied in an almost begrudging fashion.

From the ship, Gold and Silver sat quietly talking with each other over the events that had transpired. Sapphire had explained everything to them, and she currently sat in the cockpit after having gotten to Niko and Garnet, waiting for them to board.

"Nah," Niko said. "You keep it. It gotta admit that you're the last person I would give a Keyblade to, but you've got potential. When this is all over, I'll train you if you want."

Upon getting to the Gummi Ship, Niko sat in the cockpit and started her up. Getting to the Lanes Between, Niko noticed Radiant Garden and landed there.

"You guys should be safe with Cloud," Niko said. "Just look for a tall dude with a giant spiky do. Once this is all over, We'll come back for you guys. We need to find the other two that were taken. Gold...Silver...I'm sorry I'm a pretentious dick in your eyes...I can't change that. Garnet...I'm sorry we can't be friends...for reasons I'm never going to truly understand. Maybe...in time we can be friends."

Garnet threw the Keyblade over his back. Silver did not listen, but Gold did, and he nodded his head with a slight smile. Silver grumbled something under her breath before stomping out of the ship. "Take care," Gold replied before following his twin, leaving Garnet, Sapphire, and Niko.

Sapphire approached Garnet to send him off. He murmured something, and Sapphire's eyes widened. "I was going to tell you soon," she murmured. "I'm sorry you found out-" She was cut off when Garnet rested a gentle hand on her shoulder, and her eyes softened. However, worry creased them a moment later, and she pulled Garnet into a tight hug that he returned immediately. "Be safe," she murmured into his shoulder before they pulled away.

"Always," Garnet replied before heading off the ship. She watched him go, frowning slightly. She hoped all three of them would be okay.

"Don't worry about it," Niko said smiling. "I gave him a Keyblade. He has the makings of a Keyblade wielder...besides I can still summon mine."

"Let's just hope he'll use it for the right reasons," Jiminy said.

Niko took off and headed for their next location. As Niko approached he was shaking his head, feeling so bad about where they were headed. He sighed heavily at where they were headed and he was hoping to never have to come here. Especially now, of all times.

"Great...well...we're heading to a world that is super odd and seems to be in the past," Niko said sighing. "You aren't gonna like it, but try to keep an open mind."


	17. Timeless River

Sapphire frowned, now sitting in the seat next to Niko. "Where exactly is it that we're going?" she asked suspiciously. She already didn't like most of what was going on, so if Niko knew right off the bat she wouldn't enjoy this world, then it must be bad.

As they landed Niko looked around and saw the place was in black and white and cartoony. Niko looked at Sapphire and notices she was wearing what she normally wore but it was more cartoonish. Looking himself he noticed he was wearing his usual clothes but with one additional piece, huge puffy gloves.

"Well this is weird," Niko said sighing. "We are in a 1950s cartoon."

Looking at Saph and Sarabi, he jumped in shock. Saph turned into a mini angel and Sarabi turned into a devil with a bowtie.

"What's going on?" Saph asked.

"Nothing," Niko replied. "Just feeling a little weird."

"Well I'll be," Jiminy said. "We're in Timeless River. It's before Disney Castle was built!"

Sapphire looked down at her clothing, noticing how vibrant it looked compared to what she normally wore, and how silly and cartoon-like her clothing had become.

Niko was right: she hated it.

She looked a Jiminy and narrowed her eyes. None of what he said meant anything to her. "So, why are we here?" she asked, eyes roaming around, noting the changes in Sarabi, Saph, and Niko. She groaned.

"Two of the other five Insurgents are here," Niko said. "Unless you wanna go home without them."

Just then, two cartoony individuals appeared. They looked familiar and it didn't take long to realize who they were.

"Sapphire?" It was a familiar voice, and one that Sapphire found comfort in. The tough woman was hard to recognize in a cartoony pilot costume, but she came to the realization rather quickly, and same went for the guy in gray. It was Four Seven Niner, or as she had been going by more recently, Charlotte, the best pilot the Insurgents had ever had, and Sapphire's first girl friend, and Alexandrite, or rather Alex, an Insurgent who took his job very seriously but still could joke around.

"You guys are safe," Sapphire breathed, running up to them and throwing her arms around their necks. They returned the hug firmly.

"We weren't sure if we'd see anyone else," Alex murmured into Sapphire's shoulder.

"We've been all over this goofy area, and it seems like there's not a way out," Charlotte chimed in.Niko was busy fighting off heartless whilst they caught up. Once the Heartless were gone a door appeared and Niko opened it.

"Hey guys!" Niko shouted. "I found a way out! Through this door!"

Jiminy look at the door and sighed. He knew what they had to do.

"Well," Jiminy said. "In order to get out, we'll have to traverse through time. Each of the stages of animation."

"So," Niko replied. "This is the monochrome era. This door leads to the basic color era?"

"Correct," Jiminy replied. "We need to get through that era then the full color era, then the CGI era."

Sapphire looked over at Niko once he shouted about the door, Alex and Charlotte doing the same a moment later. Alex was open to the strange concept that was described, because, sure, why the hell not? Sapphire had grown indifferent toward in, but Charlotte was just as much of a hard ass as Sapphire had been.

"Excuse me?" she asked, looking toward Sapphire for some sort of explanation, but she just shook her head.

"Just go with it," she muttered before heading through the door. A grumbling Charlotte and a curious Alex followed.

Niko walked through the door and sighed heavily. He knew this was going to be difficult. He never quite got along with the Insurgents, and it likely wouldn't change, but if they were going to get out of here, he'd have to learn to work together.

"Okay so we're out of the black and white era," Niko said looking at himself. "Now we're in the limited color era...otherwise known as the Disney Dark ages."

Niko began to walk around explaining what he knew about this particular era. Granted, Möbius exists over 1000 years after humans went extinct, with a few survivors. Niko loved this particular history, making him very excited to relay his knowledge.

Alex listened to what Niko had to say, intent on learning and understanding. If he was going to be stuck here for awhile, he might as well make himself familiar with it. "How come there are so many phases?" Alex asked with real confusion. This wasn't something he had ever heard about or learned before, and he was eager to learn more.

Charlotte, on the other stand, murmured comments under her breath to Sapphire as they observed their new surroundings, not caring the slightest about anything other than getting out of this place.

"Well I'm glad you asked!" Niko said, pulling out a guitar. They were in the technicolor era, which was full of bad Disney movies with decent songs. Niko explained the era to everyone, while strumming the guitar.

Alex had never really had time to invest in music due to the harsh training that came with being and Insurgent, so Niko playing the guitar was something that interested him, as did the talk of music. He nodded at Niko's words, gaining information as they went along. Charlotte remained scowling, and Sapphire mainly kept her eyes out for possible threats in this strange new area.

"I didn't know something like this could exist," Alex mumbled under his breath, gazing around.

Niko saw the next door and before they could get there, a group of Heartless appeared. Niko summoned his Keyblade and changed into his Valor Drive Form.

"Sapphire get to the door," Niko shouted. "I'll deal with these guys!'

Sapphire spotted the door and nodded. "Right!" With a quick gesture to Alex and Charlotte, the three rushed to the door, Sapphire having her Keyblade in hand. Alex and Charlotte hurried through the doorway, but Sapphire hung back to make sure Niko made it, too.

Niko looked to Sapphire and ran to her grabbing her hands and dives into the door. Unfortunately, a small problem was discovered...they were in the air. Gravity took over as everyone careened to the earth. Niko looked around and chuckled.

"We're in the CGI era," Niko shouted out. "When it was first being implemented by Disney in 1995! It was low quality and thirty frames per second. Really shitty stuff! Hang on everyone!"

Niko summoned a giant rope and a cloth and quickly created a parachute. Pulling everyone close to him, the parachute slowly brings everyone to the ground safely.

"Is everyone okay?" Niko asked.

As they began falling to the ground, Sapphire made a noise of surprise. This was something straight out of a cartoon... And from what Niko was saying, that's exactly what they were in.

Alex did not enjoy the sensation of falling, and was grateful when he was pulled near the parachute. Charlotte on the other hand, loved the thrill due to being a pilot that had to pull off quite a few tricks. She was disappointed when the free fall stopped.

Alex looked green when finally back on the ground. Charlotte and Sapphire seemed one though. "We're good," Alex muttered, trying to keep it together.

Niko took stock of their surroundings and sighs heavily. He didn't see the door but it didn't stop him from sensing it. Niko hopped into a tree and looked out and saw the door in the distance!

"Alright, everyone," Niko shouted out. "The next door is ahead and we better got there before--"

He could not finish as he heard wolves howling and running in their direction. Niko hopped down from the tree and ushered everyone in the direction of the door.

"Let's get going..." Niko said nervously.

The nervousness in Niko's voice caught Sapphire off guard. That was a rare tone for him to have when it came to fighting off adversaries. What was so different about the wolves? Alex and Charlotte headed in the direction that they were ushered, but Sapphire hung back a little, drawing her Keyblade.

"We can fight them off," she told Niko, keeping her eyes trained on the wolves as she took careful steps backwards.

Niko looked at the wolves and baked away. Niko was afraid of wolves after getting mauled by one. On top of that, he had to kill one afterwards.

Sapphire's eyes were flooded with worry. She needed to get Niko out of there. She didn't understand what was so wrong, but all she knew was that he looked terrified and that she needed to get him away. She rested a hand on his shoulder and shoved him gently in the direction of the door.

"Go. I'll take care of them." Her tone said that she would not take no for an answer.

Niko nodded and looked to to the others, he nodded and took off for the door. He didn't want Sapphire to do it alone, but she was adamant so he complied

"Niko?" Saph asked. "Why aren't you helping Sapphire?"

"You don't know?" Sarabi replied for Niko. "Niko is afraid of wolves."

"Niko," Saph said sadly. "Why didn't you say anything?"

"I was afraid to say anything," Niko replied. "If admitted I had a fear as pointless as a fear of wolves, Sapphire would likely laugh."

"You're lucky she can handle herself," Sarabi said. "But you're going to have to get over it eventually."

"I know," Niko said.

Niko looked back and sighed heavily. He knew he was going to have to get over it and it might as well be now. Summoning his Keyblade he noticed he began to glow green. After the glow subsided, Niko noticed that his clothes were now green. Looking at his clothes he nodded and ran to Sapphire.

Sapphire began to slash at the wolves that came close to her, the Keyblade slicing open their bodies and leaving them limp and dead. She maneuvered carefully as to not be caught in the claws or jaws of these creatures. She would have been able to handle herself fine, and she thought of this as she noted Niko's return out of the corner of her eye. If he was afraid, she did not want him to be there.

"I told you to go!" she shouted before being caught off guard by a wolf. It snapped its jaws at her leg, but she managed to draw it away quickly enough, the sharp teeth of the beast managing only to cut open the material of her pants and skim her skin, small droplets of blood blossoming. She scowled at the small injury before bringing her Keyblade down into the back of the wolf.

"I can't leave you here!" Niko responded after kicking some wolves away.

Sapphire turned her attention back to Niko, her blue eyes dark and set. She didn't want him to get hurt, and she didn't want him to be fighting if he was afraid.

"Yes, you can!" she responded, continuing her onslaught of the wolves. "I'll catch up with you guys."

Niko shook his head and sighed. He knew what she was doing, and he didn't want to let her. He knew if was hurt here, it would be his fault for being such a pansy. His clothes began to glow green as a giant dragon-like monster appeared.

"I have heard your cries." a voice rang you. "I shall assist thee in battle. All you must do is call my name."

"Ifrit!" Niko shouted as the dragon appeared and grabbed the wolves. He then proceeded to eat them which made Niko feel a lot healthier somehow.

"Delicious." Ifrit said licking his lips. "Is there any more?"

"I don't think so." Niko replied rather frightened. "Let's get out of here."

"Okay," Ifrit said smiling. He turned his attention to Sapphire and smiled. "You must be Sapphire. Now worried ma'am, I ain't gonna eat ya."

Sapphire looked up as the great dragon appeared and took care of all of her adversaries. She took a few steps make to marvel at the creature before being snapped out of her daze by its words.

"Right, yeah. I would hope not," she told him before nodding her head slightly.

"Thank you for the aid." She still was certain she could've taken the wolves out on her own, but it was relieving that they were taken care of so quickly. Her eyes moved from Ifrit to Niko before looking back at the dragon, anger suddenly appearing in her blue eyes. "Now, if you don't mind, I need a word with my husband."

"Of course," Ifrit said as he disappeared. "Take your time."

Niko knew he was in some kind of trouble when he saw Sapphire gets this angry. His first thought was to run, but he was actually quite curious as to what she had to say.

"Sapphire," Niko began. "I was afraid of wolves...that's why I froze up. But seeing you in danger helped me get over it. I couldn't sit back and watch you get hurt. Even if you didn't get hurt, I still couldn't run away not knowing you were okay. I had to come back. You're upset, I know you are. I understand that. But I couldn't let you fight them alone while I ran like a wimp."

Sapphire threw her Keyblade onto her back before walking up to Niko, taking both of his hands in hers. "That's the thing, though, Niko: you were scared. I couldn't bare to let you stay and face them knowing you were terrified." Her voice and eyes softened, but they hardened once more a moment later. "And I told you to go, and you didn't. What if you had gotten hurt?" She shook her head and dropped his hands. "You have to trust me, hun."

"I'm sorry," Niko said sighing. "You're right. I guess I wasn't thinking. Let's get out of here."

Niko walked back to the others, who were safely at the door. Niko's clothes turned back to normal and he smiled. He was slowly gaining powers beyond his thoughts, but why him only? There had to be a reason.

Niko opened the final door and saw the completed Disney Castle and a final door.

"There it is!" Niko shouted. "We're in the final era that the doors led through; the Disney Renaissance. When Disney was starting to go bankrupt so they started making hit after hit. It was quite an era."

Before Niko could finish, a voice was heard.

"You made it!" The voice shouted. "Now, I see that you have some stowaways with you. I'm afraid I can't let you leave with them."

"We are leaving with these two," Niko shouted. "Whether you like it or not."

"Figures you would say that," the voice said. "You know what to do."

A group of Heartless appears and turn into a giant vortex of Heartless. Niko summoned his Keyblade and stood ready. He pointed at the door.

"Get through the door," Niko ordered. "I'll buy you guys time! Hurry!"

Sapphire did not instantly recognize the voice once they made it through the door, but she didn't not waste her time trying to place it. She gritted her teeth, glaring at the Heartless that obscured her view of the door. She pulled her pistols from her hips and handed one to Charlotte and one to Alex. They couldn't kill the Heartless, but they would sure as hell slow them down if they got in there way. She nodded at Niko's orders as she pulled her Keyblade from her back, leading Alex and Charlotte to the door, knocking down Heartless that rested in their way.

Niko rushed at the tower of Heartless and slashed at them. The tower began to crumble a little, but he was hit and the tower was restored. Niko swore under his breath but quickly got an idea. He ran towards the tower, his clothes now green, and jumped high into the air and dived inside it. The area went silent for a while until all that was heard was Niko shouting in pain when he unleashed a burst of ice, which caused the tower to explode into a flurry of snow. When he emerged from the snow, a frozen Pheonix floated behind him.

"Thank you, Leviathan." Niko said as his clothes returned to normal. He walked to everyone and opened the door. "Let's get the fuck out of this place."

Niko said no more as he walked through the door. He was sick of the world already and he wanted to go back to the Gummi Ship and crash.

The group of three had reached the door, but Sapphire halted them as she heard the scream of pain that she had heard far too many times in her life. Her eyes grew wide in worry, and she felt her chest tighten. The sound of his scream chilled her to the bone. Once he finally approached them, she reached a hand out to him, but he was already walking through the door. Charlotte and Alex exchanged a glance as Sapphire kept her eyes trained on her husband. A moment later, they followed him through the door.

"Are you okay?" Sapphire asked softly as she met him on the other side of the door.

Niko looked to Sapphire and shook his head grumbling. He had never acted like this before. It was almost as if Niko was...upset, angry even.

"I'm fine," Niko said as he sealed gthe door shut. The sealing of the door teleported everyone to the Gummi Ship and he put the ship on a course to Radiant Garden. When he had finished, Niko walked to the Captain's quarters and fell on the bed. So much had happened and time was starting to catch up with him. He was losing sleep going through the worlds and he needed that...but something else was wrong. However, what was it that was wrong?

Charlotte glared at Niko's attitude, and she opened her mouth to say something, but both Alex and Sapphire rested a hand on her shoulder to keep her from saying something. They were teleported onto the ship a moment later.

Sapphire watched with worried eyes as Niko set the course and vanished into the captain's quarters. Niko was rarely ever like this. It was hard to make him angry, and it was strange that this fantasy land of all places had gotten him like this. She thought about going to talk to him, but she decided she'd let him rest. They'd talk about it later.

The ship arrived at the Radiant Garden quickly. Sapphire walked them off the ship. "You'll find Garnet, Silver, and Gold here," she told Alex and Charlotte. They both hugged her before departing, promising to meet up soon.


	18. Endgame Part 1

Sapphire absolutely did not want Niko to have to take this darkness on by himself. However, the alternative of it taking over did not sound any better. Nor did what he suggest. She blinked as if trying to figure out if she heard him correctly or not. She couldn't end him; no, that was an impossibility. Just like she couldn't hurt the Insurgents, she could not kill Niko.

"I can't do that," she told him bluntly, her voice sounding as if the idea of hurting him was insane, which it was.

"If Xehanort gets to me," Niko said. "You won't have a choice! I don't want to hurt you Sapphire, but my darkness does! I can't bear that idea! I love you, Sapphire and nothing, not even my darkness, can change that."

The emotion in Niko's voice surprised her, even though she knew it shouldn't have. Despite it, however, she could still not bare the thought of hurting her husband.

"I'd kill myself before I killed you," she replied, her eyes narrowed. "I can't do that to you."

Niko gave Sapphire a passionate kiss on the lips and got up. He was ready to get the rest of the quest on the road. He plotted a course for Neverland, where they needed to check on Peter Pan. Sapphire was a little caught off guard by the kiss due to the nature of their conversation, but she returned it. She watched him go, but she did not follow.

She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her head on them, staring down at the bed underneath her. She was scared.

As the Gummi Ship approached Neverland, something caught Niko's eye. Their world was gone...no longer covered in darkness; just gone. Niko looked around and saw a new world appear. Niko started a new course for this new world. He could feel a familiar presence from this world. Something told him that Xehanort was in this world.

Sapphire finally got herself off the bed and walked back out. She walked into the cockpit to find Niko pull away from this dark world. She furrowed her eyes brows.

"What happened there?" she asked quietly as he pulled away.

"I found Xehanort," Niko replied. It was all he could say before he turned to Sapphireand sighs. "Once we defeat Xehanort, we can go back to our regular lives. Get some rest. You'll need it for what's to come."

Sapphire frowned. If Xehanort was here, there was no time to waste. While it was true that she and Niko had gotten little to no rest for awhile, she could not rest knowing that their enemy was within their reach. She shook her head.

"I'll be okay. I just want... I just want to go home." Despite the nature of her words, her eyes were narrowed and determined. If this asshole was standing in between her and her regular life, she wanted to deal with him as soon as possible.

"I want you to get some rest," Niko said. "I'm not landing this ship until we both get some sleep."

Sapphire's frown deepened. He was intent on this, she could tell. "A couple of hours," she told him. "We'll only sleep for a couple of hours." She raised a hand to cup the side of Niko's face, her thumb running along his cheek. She let her hand fall away from him before turning around and heading to the captan's quarters where she had been moments ago.

Niko chuckled and looked back at the lanes between. He knew what was coming and he knew they needed to be at their best. He needed to try dealing with his darkness. He closed his eyes and walked up to him.

Sapphire crawled under the covers when she got to the captain's quarters, and she let out a long sigh when she did so. She was so tired. She just wanted this whole thing to end so she could go back to her normal life. She wanted to get the Insurgents home and she wanted to get everything squared away with re-enlisting. She wanted to go on her honeymoon with Niko and have the opportunity to enjoy being married. She wanted to defeat Xehanort and go home. She shut her eyes, falling asleep only moments later.

Niko and Nix stood face to face with each other, each waiting for the other to move. It was a blur of movement, if anyone could have seen it. The two began to clash, both holding Keyblades and swinging them furiously at one another. They both eventually stood again, Niko not feeling tired but Nix was on the verge of tears.

"So what now?" Nix asked. "You gonna fight Xehanort and go back to a life with Sapphire in it? You know what she wants! She wants to leave us alone...she's not going to have time for us!"

"She will," Niko replied. "I'm not gonna go back to the Insurgents. I just don't feel comfortable doing that. However, I am going to still be there and support her. I love Sapphire, with all my soul and I don't want to lose her. I'll do what I must to make our marriage work."

"Fine..." Nix said. "I guess it's time for me to hit the road."

"Where will you go?" Niko asked.

"I don't know," Nix replied. "But I know where I would like to go."

Nix and Niko merged together and the dream ends. Niko woke up and noticed his hair was a bit darker with a red and blue streak down the sides. He didn't have the strength to react as he walked into the captain's quarter a and climbed into the bed behind Sapphire, holding her gently in his arms as slumber began to embrace him like an old friend.

A couple of hours had passed before Sapphire woke up. She slowly blinked her eyes open, finding herself comfortable in the arms of her husband. She didn't want to get up. She wanted to stay right there with Niko, cozy and safe. But she knew she could not. They had an evil to eradicate. And when it was taken care of, they could finally stay like this, sleeping side by side.

"Niko," she murmured softly, trying to carefully rouse him up.

Niko slowly opened his eyes and looked to Sapphire. He was happy to see her rested. Slowly yawning, he kissed Sapphire on the cheek and sat up.

"Morning, my love." Niko said. "You ready to go kick Xehanort's ass?"

Sapphire too sat up, and she faced Niko, smiling from the soft kiss on her cheek. "Absolutely," she told him with a firm nod, her smile disappearing as her grogginess vanished and her hardened resolve became apparent. She stood up from the bed and stretched a little.

"Lead the way," she told him. "I don't want to waste any time."

Niko landed the Gummi Ship in the world that appeared and hopped out. Looking around, he saw the Insurgents base. Niko shook his head and saw many other worlds.

"This is what happens to other worlds when they fall to darkness," Jiminy said, looking around sadly. "Keep your wits about you. I don't think it's gonna be a good thing what we find out there."

"So once we restore these worlds," Niko began. "What happens to this world and us?"

"Who knows?" Jiminy replied. "We'll just have to stop Xehanort and restore the worlds and deal with an escape route later."


	19. Endgame Part 2

Sapphire had followed Niko off the ship, and she now looked upon all of the worlds that had been consumed by darkness. She noticed Mobius and the Insurgent base, and she felt her heart lurch. She did not want to look upon these darkened worlds any longer. Sadness turned to anger slowly and she took her Keyblade from her back, heeding the warning of Jiminy.

"Where the hell is this bastard?" she asked as they walked and looked around, growing more and more anxious to end him. He's the one that made all of this darkness come forth. This was his fault.

"So you found me?" Xehanort called out. "I'm surprised, really. I see you freed your friends and Niko gained a backbone. That's good. Now the true test can begin!"

"It's over Xehanort," Niko replied. "Nowhere to go for either of us. Only one of us can get out of this place."

Xehanort summoned his Keyblade and rushed at Sapphire and created a wall preventing Niko from interfering.

"He's right," Xehanort said laughing. "One of us will be leaving this place. I'm going to make sure he suffers for bringing you along. You may have a Keyblade, but you have no idea of its might."

Niko climbed to the top of the wall and discovered he could no further as he watched Sapphire from his perch. Niko knew Sapphire could do this, but she was going to need help. He closed his eyes and passed on a blue orb to Sapphire, turning her clothes red. Niko had passed on his Honor Drive form to her.

Sapphire hadn't only the time to pull her Keyblade out to deflect Xehanort's attack. She glared at him, her face twisted in anger. She did not see the orb, but she felt it: she felt as if her feet were lighter, and as if she could simply do so much more.

"You interrupted my wedding, you messed with my friends, and you took away my home," she snarled. "You're going to regret it." She switched from defensive to offensive, swinging her Keyblade at her adversary.

"I will regret it?" Xehanort asked laughing as he blocked your advance and counter with a kick to the gut. "Please. The person who should regret it is Niko. He is the darkness that hates you. How do you know he personally doesn't hate you? He could be helping you to kill you on your honeymoon. I see the potential for greatness in you. I can unlock it and, with that power, no one can stop you!"

"Don't listen to him, Sapphire!" A voice piped up. It was the necklace Allison gave her and it was Allison's voice she heard. "He is trying to get you to hurt Niko. Niko loves you but his darkness had trouble accepting your decision to go back to the Insurgents because they fear separation. Deep down, Niko's darkness cares for you. It just hates your decision."

Sapphire did not want to doubt Niko. He was the purest person she knew. Xehanort's words made her scowl, and it made her eyes darken. She could not believe this twisted man. She could not let herself fall victim to his mind games. Allison's voice hardened her resolve as she listened to it. Though the kick to her stomach sent her flying, she would not let this enemy get under her skin.

"I don't want your power," she snarled, getting back to her feet. "I want to go home." She had hated this journey from the beginning, and she had Xehanort to blame. She tightened her grip on her Keyblade before rushing up to him and slashing.

Xehanort took the slash and started flying backwards. He hit a nearby wall and stood up laughing. Niko knew this was gonna get tougher, so he gave up more of his Drive forms to Sapphire. Suddenly, the forms merged together to grant Sapphire silvery blue clothes and six Keyblades surrounding her. The last Drive had been unlocked; Infinity Drive.

Sapphire looked up to the vantage point where Niko stood and smiled at him, the anger melting away for a moment. She knew he was the one helping her, the one making her feel stronger, however he did it. She glanced down at her new clothing and the Keyblade surrounding her, readjusting her grip on the one she held.

"I'll give you one chance," Sapphire told Xehanort, her voice hard, the anger returning. "Surrender now, and I won't have to hurt you."

"Hmph," Xehanort sighed heavily. "You have no idea who you are talking to! I shall teach you what I'm capable of!"

Xehanort called forth a ball of flame and firedo it at Sapphire. One of the Keyblades surrounding her batted the fireball back. Xehanort dodged the ball and fired a bolt of lightning, which another Keyblade blocked.

This was going to be all too easy. Sapphire continued to take step forwards toward Xehanort, only darkened anger in her expression, the Keyblade around her protecting her as she approached him. Her steps suddenly picked up speed as she charged at him, her Keyblade slashing at the enemy. Xehanort jumped back and fires a blast of ice at Sapphire. This froze the Keyblades in place, leaving Sapphire open. Smiling he slashed at Sapphire sending her flying.

Sapphire was rather caught off guard by losing the Keyblades so quickly. She grunted as she was flung backwards, her grip on the Keyblade firm to make sure it didn't fly out of her hands. She shakily got to her feet, anger continuing to course through her veins, her eyes becoming darker and darker in rage.

"What is it that you want?" she shouted at Xehanort, her body quaking in anger. She didn't want to waste her time if fighting would get her no where. "Or do I just have to kill you?"

"I want to do something I was denied long ago," Xehanort said. "To open Kingdom Hearts and spread it's power. In order to do that, a great power must be forced to collide. You and I will be that clash of ultimate forces."

Everything Xehanort spoke of sounded like nonsense to her. She rolled her eyes, throwing her Keyblade onto her back before pulling a gun from the holster on her hip and aiming it at him.

"You're insane," she growled, pulling the trigger multiple times, sending bullets in her enemy's direction, the bullets surrounded by a bluish black aura.

Xehanort blocks the bullets and rushes at Sapphire. While a bullet hits him, he keeps running into Sapphire. Niko managed to get into the arena and jumped in front of Sapphire and blocked the attack.

Sapphire had been prepared to dodge the attack from Xehanort as he charged through the bullets, but then Niko joined the fray. She scowled and holstered her gun, grabbing her Keyblade once more.

"I can take care of him!" Sapphire shouted to Niko, her anger still present in her voice as she tried to move around him to get to Xehanort.

"No you can't." Niko replied. "You're letting your anger get in the way. This is what he wants."

Sapphire gritted her teeth. She did not need help with this. She knew Niko cared, but all he was doing was getting in the way. He was going to get hurt.

She ignored him and proceeded to charge at Xehanort again, her Keyblade poised to slash at him, her intent to cause serious harm.

Xehanort takes the hit and staggers back. He decided to remain silent, his mind focused on the fight. Niko, too decided to keep silent, firing bolts of lightning at Xehanort. Xehanort dodged the bolts but gets hit by a slash in the back sending him to Sapphire.

Sapphire felt her muscles tighten underneath her skin as her anger dominated her mind. She did not need his help. However, she would not sacrifice the fight against Xehanort for the sake of argument. She would talk to him about it after, and for the time being, she'd let her rage fuel her. As her enemy was knocked toward her, she plunged her Keyblade forward, her intent to kill.

Xehanort quickly blocked your attack and fired a bolt of black energy at Niko. He blocked the au

ttack as Xehanort rushed at Niko. The two clashed and began to struggle.

"You know what she wants!" Xehanort said. "She will lose interest in being with you! You'll be alone in a one-sided marriage! The Insurgents will take her from you! Do you want that?"

Niko remained silent. He knew that Xehanort was trying to trick him. However, deep down, he knew Xehanort was right...partially. Xehanort was waiting for this doubt. He slashed at Niko and Niko staggered back, holding his chest.


	20. Hold On To You

"Niko!" Sapphire shouted as she watched Xehanort slash at his chest, pain striking her own at the sight of him staggering back. The anger in her eyes was replaced for a moment with fear and concern before the anger came flooding back. Xehanort would not take her husband away from her, the man she loved most. She felt the change begin, her nails growing into claws, but she tried to suppress it. She could not let herself get to that place. With the pain of Niko came a small amount of clarity, enough to tell her that she could not become a mindless beast and risk hurting her husband. Claws now clinging against her Keyblade, she let out a shout of her anger and charged at Xehanort once more, swinging her weapon at him. "Don't you dare hurt him!"

Xehanort was waiting for Sapphire to do this. He already had a plan in place. Snapping his fingers, Sapphire felt a slash at her back. Niko disappeared in a puff of smoke and reappeared, Xehanort in his grasp in a full nelson.

"Sapphire!" Niko shouted. "You need to snap out of it! I'm okay now. We need to finish this! End it! Point your Keyblade at Xehanort!"

"But Niko," Saph responded. "If we do that, who knows what will happen to you!"

"I messed up by jumping into this fight, " Niko replied. "But I'm giving Sapphire the ability to end this!"

"She's filled with darkness!" Xehanort said laughing. "She can't do it without bringing about more darkness!"

"Sapphire!" Sapphire heard Allison in the necklace. "You need to calm down! Do not let Xehanort trick you!"

Sapphire growled as she felt hot pain in her back, stopping her for a moment. When she looked up, Niko was in Xehanort's clutches. His instructions were easy enough, and she was prepared to raise her Keyblade, but then Saph placed doubt into her mind. Would whatever this was hurt her husband? If so, she couldn't risk it. There had to be another way. Another way that wouldn't hurt him. Frustration morphed into further anger as she felt a popping in her legs, knowing they, along with the rest of her body, wanted to change, to grow. She resisted it, gritting her teeth, pain shooting through her legs.

Then, Xehanort spoke, putting more and more doubt into her brain. She had always done things with anger and darkness. With rage came her victories. With darkness came her successes. Could she do this without her body flooding with rage and darkness?

Allison's voice around her neck urged her to be calm. She shut her eyes and tried to take herself out of the moment. She slowed down. She breathed. She could not completely eradicate her anger, but she could calm down. Sapphire's claws retracted and she opened her eyes, the dark colors that had been there morphing back into their usual bright sapphire blue. There was a determined look in her eyes.

Niko was right. He was giving her an opportunity to end this. She had to try. She had to prove it to Xehanort that she could. She had to prove it to herself. Slowly, she raises her Keyblade and pointed it at Xehanort.

"I promise I'll be fine, " Niko said. "Now do what we came here to do. End this!"

A flash of light emits from the Keyblade and hits both Xehanort and Niko. Niko released Xehanort and Niko staggers back a bit. The attack was risky to him and he wasn't exactly gonna be okay for a while. Niko fell on his back pants heavily. He knew what was coming as he saw his darkness leaving him forming a new person. Niko smiled at the dark being, only uttering one name. Nix.

Nix walked up to Sapphire and looked at Niko.

"He'll live," Nix said. "He's asleep. Get him out of here before the world falls apart. I'll stay here. It's better that he doesn't deal with me."

Nix handed Sapphire an unconscious Niko and smiled. Xehanort looked at the door and as it opened it gave off a glow of light that completely disintegrates Xehanort. The light begins to destroy the world as well.

"It's beginning to repair all the worlds!" Nix shouted. "Hurry!"

Nix teleported the group to the Gummi Ship as the light dissipated and they saw their home return. Niko woke up and looked up Sapphire.

"I told you," Niko said smiling weakly. "You did it and I'm still alive. Now...let's go home. When our world is restored, all those who belonged in it will be returned."

When Niko fall back, Sappire felt her eyes grow wide, the Keyblade slowly leaving her hand and clattering to the ground as she lowered her arm. What had she done? Oh, gods, what had she done?

She was taken out of her stupor by Nix who was now in front of her with Niko, reassuring her that he would be fine. She swallowed and nodded, picking up her Keyblade and putting it on her back just as the door opened and bright light began to pour through. She squinted and turned anxious eyes back to Nix as he handed Niko to her. She was still feeling distressed, but she needed to focus on getting them out of there.

"Thank you," she told Nix moments before he teleported them to the Gummi Ship. Sapphire had been prepared to bring Niko to the captain's quarters when he woke up, weak in his speech.

"I hurt you," she whispered. "I'll never forgive myself for that." She gently sat him down into the copilot's seat as she looked out at their world. She sat down and began to go there, the last bit of anger draining from her, being replaced by sadness. She may have stopped Xehanort, but she hurt Niko. She'd rather watch the world burn before she'd watch Niko die. But she had hurt him. And it wasn't worth it. When Niko fall back, Sappire felt her eyes grow wide, the Keyblade slowly leaving her hand and clattering to the ground as she lowered her arm. What had she done? Oh, gods, what had she done?

She was taken out of her stupor by Nix who was now in front of her with Niko, reassuring her that he would be fine. She swallowed and nodded, picking up her Keyblade and putting it on her back just as the door opened and bright light began to pour through. She squinted and turned anxious eyes back to Nix as he handed Niko to her. She was still feeling distressed, but she needed to focus on getting them out of there.

"Thank you," she told Nix moments before he teleported them to the Gummi Ship. Sapphire had been prepared to bring Niko to the captain's quarters when he woke up, weak in his speech.

"I hurt you," she whispered. "I'll never forgive myself for that." She gently sat him down into the copilot's seat as she looked out at their world. She sat down and began to go there, the last bit of anger draining from her, being replaced by sadness. She may have stopped Xehanort, but she hurt Niko. She'd rather watch the world burn before she'd watch Niko die. But she had hurt him. And it wasn't worth it.

"Actually," Niko said. "You didn't hurt me. You just extracted my darkness from me. Sure it stung, but I'm fine."

Upon landing the world returned to the way it was before Xehanort even showed up. Everyone was waiting at the wedding venue and Niko and Sapphire were at the altar in their wedding attire, Niko's sapphire suit and Sapphire in her wedding dress. Niko looked around at everyone curiously. It was as if they never left. Niko cleared his throat and began his vows over, now having something new to add.

"Sapphire," Niko began. "I'm so lucky to have you in my life. You and I have been through a lot. We saved the world, twice now, and I am glad that I had the chance to do it with you. You're best friend, and now my wife. It is gonna be a hell of a tale to tell our kids and grandchildren when they get older. I promise, I will always be there for you. I will cherish every moment spent with you."

Sapphire wasn't sure what it was she expected to happen when they landed, but she was not expecting to be right back at her wedding, her gown back on as if it had been there the whole time, back at the altar with Niko. She decided not to question it as he began to redo his vows, but they were undeniably different than before. His words made her smile, and she was put at ease after everything that had happened after this new adventure, any lingering doubt pushed away (for the time being, at least).

She looked down at the wedding ring that now rested on her finger, taking a deep breath before she looked back up into Niko's eyes. "There is no one I'd rather save the world with," Sapphire told him, grinning. "My memories with you will always be the fondest. And I cannot wait to make more. I have no doubts that you are the love of my life. I will forever be by your side."

A few moments later, during the reception, Niko sat on the roof of the reception hall. He had been thinking about it all and wondered if anyone had remembered the event. Riku appeared and sat next to Niko.

"You and Sapphire deserve a break from all of this." Riku said. "You both went through a lot and you deserve peace. I am so happy for you both. Be ready for absolute boredom. Sora, Kairi and I will pick up the remaining pieces of all this."

"Riku?" Niko asked. "Do you think anyone in this world remembers what happened?"

"No," Riku replied. "They never do."

"Okay." Niko said.

"Sapphire's lucky to have you in her life," Riku said. "I'm still looking for the right one myself. I'll find her eventually."

"And when you do, Sapphire and I will be there." Niko said smiling.

Riku smiled and left. Niko hopped down from his perch and walked to Sapphire, just as the dance for the couple started.

"So, Sapphire," Niko said. "You think you can handle the weirdness that is living with me?"

Sapphire did not know where Niko had vanished to, and she was too busy dealing with wedding guests to go find him. Lots of Insurgents came up to her and discussed how they wanted her to return, or how they had heard stories about her, and she kept quiet for the time being.

It was just about time for the dance, and Sapphire was nervous Niko wouldn't turn up, but he was there. She smiled as he approached her, and she gently put her hands on his shoulders. "There's only one way to find out."

Niko smiled at Sapphire as they danced. He knew only a snippet of the future, but he couldn't wait for the rest.


End file.
